The Adventures of a Pokémon Ranger
by Mina Everly
Summary: Not long after the time of peace in Almia begins, two new Rangers are inducted into the team! A shy girl meets a reserved boy, he has a past with a headstrong girl that he failed. Will the same thing happen twice? Will Eden ever have a partner Pokemon? Featuring most characters and two OC's. Many pairings, future humor. Rated T for lang. Terrible at summaries. First chap. is rough.
1. Welcome to the Crew!

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Crew!

My footsteps echoed on the pavement as we stepped off of our boat, the _S.S__ Destiny._

"Can you believe it?! We're _finally_ in Almia!"

Tripp, my younger-but-taller-than-me-brother was, like normal, towering over me. His extremely loyal partner, Gallade, towered over me as well. I guess that's my punishment for only being just under 5'2.

"C'mon, sis! We did it! Our dream is finally being realized!" He flicked my blue hair like usual; almost like a secret hand sign between the two of us.

We began to pass all of these unfamiliar people, yet every single one of them said hello to us. Maybe it was the ranger uniforms, but you never know. Maybe the people here were just friendly.

"Yeah," I finally answered my brother as we stepped off of the port and into the forest.

I didn't feel great about meeting new people; we all knew how I got when that sort of thing tended to happen. However, what I _was_ excited for… was the fact that my brother and I would be Top Rangers… together.

"Let's go find some Dodrio, sis!"

Tripp exclaimed as he took off without me, leaving me to run after him, hoping that being on the top was what I had expected, the setting sun nearly blinding me.

**Ranger Base~**

"Ah! Hastings, why would you make usstay up so late for _this?_"

A noisy lad with hair that described his fierce temper yawned, straightening his uniform.

The entire base was quiet, yet as loud as could be. Everyone was waiting anxiously for the new Rangers to arrive, but all thoughts seemed clouded.

The attention of the room shifted elsewhere as an elderly woman walked into the room.

"Now, now dears; our new comrades will arrive soon."

An equally elderly man stepped into the fray as well as the tired Rangers waited in a now-near silence.

"Erma, it's quite alright. The new Rangers will be initiated by me, and they'll fit in just fine. The others will welcome them like old family."

"Not unless they're better than me…" The fiery boy growled under his breath.

Hastings mildly shook his head and sighed.

"Now, Keith… be nice to the new recruits. These kids lived kind of far away; they're from Fall City, in Fiore where you used to patrol before we brought you in. The word is, judging by the Almia Times,"

He swiftly knocked on a nearby table with the latter sitting on top of it and continued:

"that these two siblings have been recognized for many good things they've done in the past few months of being Rangers."

A soft whisper hissed through the small, dark room as a clear voice stood out:

"They've only been Rangers for a few _months?!"_

All heads seemed to crank backwards to face a man with black hair and a pretty sweet hat.

"Sven, I can see real potential in these two. I promise they will not drag any of you down from whatever pedestal you crazy kids put yourselves on. Their base leader, Joel, has kept in touch with me and has recommended them to us so many times that we, literally, had to let them in."

A soft sigh rippled through the crowd of gathered Rangers as they all took their seats and began to wait anxiously.

**In The Forest**

"Sis! Are we almost there _yet?! _Or did your styler go F.U.B.R _again?!"_

My annoying brother was growling at me as we literally rode in circles on our tiring Dodrio.

"_I can't let it go down like this…"_

That's when I felt it: I was beginning to get dizzy, with all of the trees spinning around me, and I felt and my head begin to drop into my chest, but I fought it back.

Not today.

"Don't have a panic attack because we're just a _little _late, sis!" Tripp reminded me sharply as we approached the Ranger Base (I hope).

All of the wild Bidoof and Starly seemed to hustle out of our way as I could see a large building starting to get bigger as we approached.

"Is that it?!"

I breathed out, not ready for the words that came out of my mouth.

Tripp nodded. "Hell yeah. You ready for this?!"

I couldn't even get past staring at all of the damn windows on the building, and we weren't even close enough to tell if that was the place yet.

The only real thing on _my_ mind was if all of the other Top Rangers would accept Tripp and I.

I had heard so many stories about all of them… how could us small-town (not really…) Rangers compare… or come even _close_ to what they've done for Pokémon?

To be honest, I hadn't even noticed how close I was to the building until just then, when Tripp and I jumped off of our Dodrio.

"Straighten up your jacket, fix your hair, turn off your styler… then we'll look a _little_ presentable."

"Yeah… that ride took a lot out of me…"

I was gasping for air by the time we reached the bottom of the steps up to the huge building.

We began the long climb until we hit the top. My calves were burning and my lungs were just the same, but I've been almost stranded at the middle of a mountain trying to rescue a trapped Glacion on top of a snow-capped mountain.

It was a life or death situation: either go down and leave the poor thing up there, or go up and risk the possibility of _both_ of us dying.

Tripp and Gallade had already walked up to the door, leaving me to jump and run after him, ashamed that I didn't realize he was leaving.

"_I hope they like us, I hope they like us, I hope they like us…"_

**In The Base**

As soon as someone heard a door move, a girl with green hair exclaimed:

"Brand new Rangers are here, ya'll!"

"Easy, Wendy," a deep voice called from the back. "A little excited, are ya?"

She nodded vigorously, smiling all the way.

"It's nice to have fresh bait once and awhile..."

Hastings just shook his head and left the room to grab the new Rangers and bring them in the room for evaluation and initiation.

**Eden**

I was still breathing hard as I followed Tripp and Gallade into the building, where there was nothing but machinery and styler-chargers.

"Where is everyone…?" Tripp whispered, but an older man walked toward us.

A smile was plastered to his face as he began to laugh.

"Tripp and Eden… and Gallade?"

We both nodded as our names were mentioned in turn. I couldn't help but notice how particularly smart and wise this elderly guy looked; his beard all long and all…

"Everyone is waiting in the lounge room to meet you three. Shall I lead you to them or do you two want to get 'prettied up' first?"

Tripp gave the man an annoyed look and snorted: "I don't need to look pretty to work, sir."

The man nodded in approval.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

And with that, he walked away from us slowly, with the help of his cane.

I stared at Tripp, honestly just a little winded at how this man spoke to us… as if we were children. Come on, we're both 16 years old; we're not _that_ young.

Tripp shook his head and followed the old man without waiting for me to catch up, still just a bit winded.

As we walked up two flights of escalators, we got to a large room filled with normal Area Rangers, who said 'hi' to us and congratulated us until the elderly man led us into a room which was dark for a moment, but when the lights flipped on it was filled with orange couches and cute furry rugs. Not to mention the legions of rooms it led off to.

"This, new Rangers, is the lounge-"

"Hastings, get outta the way!"

"Yeah, let us _see_ them!"

He sighed and stepped aside from us, almost making me fall over from the amount of people there were in here.

The old man, apparently called Hastings, sighed and stood off to the side as Tripp and I almost got mauled by this one guy with red, fiery hair.

"How good _are_ you guys, huh?! I challenge you to a capture-off!"

Tripp rolled his eyes. "Which one of us?"

"Both of you at the same time, of course!"

His loud voice was enough to make me flinch.

Hastings jumped in suddenly and the whole room got quiet.

"I would like for you two to introduce yourselves."

Tripp immediately followed-up:

"Me?! Well, my name is Tripp, and this is my partner Gallade!"

"Galla…" Gallade waved his huge arms and smiled.

"Yeah, he said hi. Anyway, he and I have been patrolling Fall City for seven months and we suddenly get promoted up here."

A girl with blue hair laughed at him.

"Good job! Now, do you two know-know each other, if ya know what I mean?"

A guy with navy hair and a Minun at his feet face-palmed.

"C'mon, Solana…"

"HELL NO, SHE'S MY SISTER!"

There were veins popping out of Tripp's neck like they usually did when someone said something that pissed him off.

That made just about everyone start to laugh, even Gallade, and Tripp calmed down as he took a deep breath and glared at his partner.

I shook my head softly, feeling something in my stomach move in a weird way. I'm not sure it was because I was nervous or what, because on the fly I was asked:

"And who are you?"

"Um…" I took a deep breath. "My… my name is Eden. Tripp and I used to patrol together all the time until we were promoted."

A guy with brown spiky hair and a Staraptor by his side smirked at me.

"That's pretty cool, you know? Brother and sister working on the job. But now, it's time for us other Top Rangers to introduce ourselves. I'll start: my name is Ben, and this is my partner Staraptor."

There was a girl next to him that looked quite similar as she spoke up.

"My name is Summer, but I can't seem to find Uke Peach anywhere around here to show him to you…"

"Uke Peach…?"

"Her partner Pokémon is a Pichu carrying a ukulele… so she shortened it to Uke Peach. The little guy is a prankster, so he could be up to anything right now."

The girl with blue hair stood up, even though I already knew her name.

"My name is Solana, and here is _my_ partner, Plusle!"

Her Plusle looked exactly like Minun except red, and the guy with the navy hair stood up beside her.

"I'm Lunick and this is my partner, Minun."

Compared to Plusle, Minun seemed a lot more reserved and quiet to me. But that must be just me…

The one with red hair was literally jumping in place.

"Is it my turn yet?! Too late 'cuz I'm gettin'! My name is Keith and my partner, Buizel, is probably in his bathtub swimming around."

A girl with cute little ponytails and a Pachirisu on her shoulder waved to me.

"Hi! I'm Kate! Sorry about my moronic friend here,"

She glared at Keith for a moment before turning back to the two of us.

"As you can see, _my_ partner is Pachirisu, who also has a brother Pachirisu who is Kellyn's partner…"

She paused ominously as she looked around for the supposed Kellyn, but there was no one else in the room.

"Where'd he go? I thought he was in here…"

Kate's eyes widened substantially enough for me to tell that she was genuinely confused.

Hastings stepped forward again, his eyes resting on me, then Tripp.

"Aside from Kellyn, who is absent at this moment, you have met all of the-"

He was interrupted by a cough from the back of the room where a girl with _long_ greenish-blue hair and a guy with a hat were standing.

"Oh… I am very sorry, dears... go right on ahead."

An old lady stepped into the limelight, staring at the two.

The greenish-blue haired girl stepped into the ring, petting _her_ Staraptor.

"My name is Wendy and it's nice to meet you all! I am usually known as the Flying Ranger, though…"

The guy with the hat smirked, letting his teeth shine in the dim light.

"And, I am Sven. My partner is Luxray, but he's asleep in my room… he had a long day yesterday."

My eyes must have widened and have popped out of my sockets as I stared at Sven, because he gave me an odd look back.

"What?"

"Oh, um… nothing, sorry."

My voice wavered a little bit at the end, and the focus on me was lifted as another figure entered the room.

I looked around frantically, wondering who it was, but another Pachirisu rushed into the room, answering my question.

"Hey, Kells, you're _late_!"

Bellowed Sven, crossing his arms over his chest.

The guy glanced over at the tall man and opened the fridge. I wouldn't call it a glance though. It was more of a glare.

Tripp seemed to grimace at this guy's attitude. He hadn't even said anything and my brother already seemed to hate him.

"Kellyn, _where_ were you?!"

Kate demanded. "You were supposed to be here _hours_ ago!"

He shook his head, his brown hair waving slightly as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and his face emerged from the darkness.

I could literally feel my breath catch in my throat as his eyes scanned both mine and Tripp's.

They were cold; colder than the mountain I saved that poor Glacion on. His uniform was torn on the shoulder and I could see that his styler was a little scratched.

"Y-you were on a mission, weren't you?"

I could hear my voice, awkward and squeaky, slip out of my mouth and practically bounce off of the walls like an out-of-tune violin.

It went completely silent for the moment; the only thing that was actually making noise was the two Pachirisu running around each other.

"Yeah."

That was the only thing that came out of his mouth as he took his water and left the room.

Kate's huge eyes set on my face.

"I'm so sorry about my brother… he can be stingy and stiff at times…"

"Is he older or younger?"

Tripp asked, his eyebrows raised in a way that I would rather not have them be: he seemed to be irritated and interested at the same time.

Kate shook her head.

"He's a whole year older. Although he is arguably the best of us here… he can be a little stupid sometimes, you know?"

Before I could even remotely answer to that, Hastings walked in the middle of the room.

"Okay, Tripp, Gallade, and Eden, I think it's time to initiate you three."

All of the remaining Top Rangers sat down or got more comfortable in their chairs as all eyes set on my brother and I.

"Tripp and Gallade," Hastings addressed them first.

"Do you wish to protect Pokémon with your whole being?"

Undoubtedly, Tripp began vigorously nodding, along with Gallade.

That's when Hastings turned to me now.

"Eden, do you wish to protect Pokémon with your whole being?"

Without giving it a second thought, I began nodding faster and harder than I expected.

_"It's all I've ever wanted to do… all I've ever wanted to be…"_

A subtle clapping began to erupt around the room, and I could hear someone mutter "I can't believe that's it…"

_"You did it."_

My conscience was as happy with me as _I_ was; it was all starting to sink in that I had actually _did_ it. My brother and I were both Top Rangers.

After the clapping died down and I wiped the sweat from my forehead, Hastings smiled.

"Now, as some of you may be aware, there is going to be a change to procedures around here."

Ben shook his head. "I don't understand why…"

He earned a substantially creepy glare as my new 'boss' continued on:

"And we're going to have squad partners."

Tripp seemed to explode.

"Partners?! Hastings, do you even _lift_?! Why would we need partners for missions when we're just randomly assigned to squads depending on what needs to be done?!"

Hastings glanced at the old lady across the room, who had on a tag on her shirt that read 'Erma', and sighed.

"Although you're correct, Tripp, I find that it is easier to have assigned partners according to what you do best. In fact, I have done some research on all of you, and-"

Kellyn walked back into the room, looking slightly less irritated, and joined everyone on the bright orange couches. Although that made Erma pause, she continued without missing a beat.

"And, I have set all of you up with a partner. Also, before I state your partners… there are a couple… new facilities being added."

_"What could she mean by that?"_

My thoughts seemed to be not the only one of it's kind as Erma paused, then let Hastings take over:

"We have decided that partners should share rooms together to cut down on the amount of space used up here. Don't even get me _started_ on what you're thinking; we are installing separate bathrooms and beds for each of you in said rooms."

"Damn," I could hear Lunick swear under his breath.

"These new installations are not to be taken for granted, so don't get any ideas,"

Hastings side-glared at Keith before continuing:

"We have also arranged for the rooms to be soundproofed so everyone may finally get some peace and quiet around here. We thought all of you should know before we group you with your new partners."

When it seemed as though Hastings had finished speaking, Erma took the stage.

"Okay, dearies… now it's time to name your partners. Keep in mind that many of you already know who you're probably going to be with."

With a slight pause, she continued, her old eyes gazing upon all of us, giving me shivers up through my body.

"First off… our electrifying two are Solana and Lunick. You two seem to be good at just about anything... so you'll be our all-around team."

I glanced over to see Lunick scratch his cheek swiftly, while Minun and Plusle started doing this weird dance… almost like a Helping Hands move. Solana seemed rock solid, but I could see from her eyes she was happy.

"Next, our two that went to Ranger School together… Kate and Keith. You two should be used to working together. Anything that involves brute force... Keith can take care of it, I know it. Kate, you also seem to have a knack for finding things."

Keith nodded. "Damn straight." But Kate seemed to only nod shyly.

"The eldest two together then… Wendy and Sven. Of course, anything that involves crazy dangers of near-death scenarios you two can handle with your eyes closed."

To me, they both seemed particularly unfazed by the news, as if they were expecting it.

"Next... our childhood friends, Ben and Summer. Our flying Ranger combo. Anything in the skys that may happen... you two have it covered."

I noticed Summer begin to blush real heavily, and Ben looked away for a moment, as if he didn't know what was going on.

Tripp stepped forward for a moment. "Um… Mrs. Erma… is it okay if I request a room for just Gallade and I? He takes up a lot of room…"

Gallade seemed almost offended, but didn't make a big deal out of it as Erma nodded.

_"Not very usual for my brother to be so humble."_

She smiled at me.

"Now sweetie, I've heard from Joel that you were particularly bright… am I right?"

Thinking about my old leader, I nodded.

Joel had frequently asked me to do extensive research on certain topics and Pokémon, so I was quite used to being called the 'nerd of the base'.

"If that's the case, I have decided to put you with Kellyn. You both have a talent with research and common sense. It'd be good to have two cool heads on a team together."

This not only got _my_ attention, but everyone's in the base.

Unwillingly, I let my eyes slide toward his, and his focused face was digging into the orange carpet. I couldn't see his eyes.

There was a moment of awkward silence until Hastings nodded.

"While all rooms will be preparing for the new room structure, everyone may sleep in the lounge."

Reverently, the two elders walked out of the lounge area as the room grew even quieter. I think I even heard a Hoothoot outside.

"You know… this means we can tell campfire stories and screw around all night, don't you?"

Sven's deep voice penetrated the silence, and Lunick nodded.

"I guess I could go and sneak some snacks from around here… Keith, Ben, you in?"

The two called nodded and bro-fisted each other as the three raced out of the room.

I glanced at Tripp, who glanced just as confused back at me. _These_ were Top Rangers? _They're _it?

"Honestly," I heard his whisper.

"I thought they'd be just a little bit more serious about everything."

His dark blue eyes glinted in confusion again as he whipped his short and spikey green hair out of his face.

A light near the fridge came on, making Tripp and Gallade immediately gravitate toward it, as if they were robots or something.

Smirking and shaking my head at the same time, I turned to see all four girls motioning to me.

Kate, Solana, Wendy, and Summer.

I gulped, heading toward them, feeling sweat begin to bead near my eyes.

_"Whatever you do… don't say anything stupid…"_

* * *

New story time! And yes, I know, this chapter was terrible! I seriously have _never_ written a good first chapter… bear with me I: I'll work on this a lot… or at least I'll try :D I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy this one :) (Maybe... I say that about every single one I write)

Rate and Review! (I love feedback)

4/23/12: I did a little baby revamp where I added things and took things out and added more detail.

(Told ya guys I'd do it :3 xD)


	2. All Just Getting Along

_Flashback:_

_Shaking my head, I turned to see all four girls motioning to me. Kate, Solana, Wendy, and Summer._

_I gulped heading toward them, feeling sweat begin to bead near my eyes._

"_Whatever you do… don't say anything stupid…"_

Chapter 2: All Just Getting Along

"What are ya doing all the way over there?" Solana asked me as I sat down on the floor in front of the four girls.

Honestly, I was confused as I stared at the walls now. All of them were covered with newspapers… ones with them mentioned on them.

"_That… that's-" _

There was no question in my mind of what I wanted to do… become good enough to be in those papers.

Almia Times…

"So, Eden," Summer's quiet yet distinct voice snapped me back into reality. "Why don't you have a partner?"

I hadn't really even thought about that.

"Um," I whispered, feeling self-conscious as all of their eyes dug into my face. "I, um… I've never had that kind of connection with a Pokémon before…"

All four of the girls around me dropped their jaws.

"Never?!" Speculated Kate as her Pachirisu jumped onto her shoulder and clung there, twitching cutely.

I shook my head, my dark blue curls bouncing about.

The oldest of all four girls, Wendy, shook her head. "It'll come in time. The late partners are always the best ones."

My heart stopped as it sank in.

"_Late partners are always the best ones."_

Wendy smiled at me for a moment, but before any more words could be exchanged between us, the creaking of a door shutting made me turn around fast.

Another girl, a blonde one this time, walked swiftly over to all of us and sat down next to me.

"I can't believe I just now found out that there were going to be brand new Rangers here! Why does everyone keep secrets from me?!"

The frown on her face was unmistakable as she turned to face me.

"Hello! My name is Rhythmi and I'm an Operator here!"

It was kinda hard to explain her personality… she was extremely bubbly and happy-looking.

Kate was shaking her head though, looking almost disappointed or something. I didn't bother asking why, because I was swamped with questions myself.

"Where are you from? What's your name? Do you have a partner? Can I see it? What kind of Pokémon do you like?"

Solana put her hands over her ears and walked toward the bar-like area.

"Why can't you be quiet?!" I could faintly hear her growl.

No one answered her if they heard her, though.

"Woah…" Rhythmi's voice was quieter now. "Who is _that_?"

I followed her gaze to my stupid brother, trying to apparently make some sort of conversation with Kellyn, but was obviously failing.

"Come on man, open up…"

"Leave me alone."

"But-"

"No."

I watched as Kellyn began to reach for his back pocket, but that's when the other three boys burst through the door.

"We got the weed! I mean, what?" Keith's obnoxious voice was just about enough to make my ears burst as I watched the overflow of countless snacks spill out of the boy's arms.

Ben rushed over to Summer almost immediately.

"I've got your favorite… Swedish Fish!"

Summer looked almost dumbfounded as she stared at it for a moment, blinked twice, and took it from him.

"Thank you!"

I watched as Ben smiled really brightly, grabbed a lock of her hair and twirled it around his finger three times, then walked off as her hair cascaded back over her face.

Kate was literally squirming until Ben was out of sight.

"I can't believe this! How are you and Ben not together yet?!"

Summer's eyes widened again as a light blush blossomed on her cheeks.

"Well, um… I guess we've been friends since childhood and-"

Rhythmi interrupted her by simply standing up and walking toward my green-haired-idiot of a brother.

"_Wait… what was he reaching for?!"_

My mind immediately reminded me of what exactly Kellyn had been reaching for in the back of his pocket.

"_A knife? A gun?"_

I got up and ran for it. Whatever was in his pocket, at least.

My feet began to actually start hitting the floor only moments before I felt myself connect with him, bowling both of us over.

I was blinded for only a moment because of the impact of us falling onto the ground, but when we did, I was in for a surprise.

"Eden, what the hell?" Tripp and Gallade were staring at me with wide eyes as the situation now took the stage.

I was laying on top of this very unhappy Ranger in a very immodest manner, which caused him to react the exact way I expected.

"Get off me," he growled, giving me a push off of his chest. "What is your problem?!"

Now that all the attention was on me, I was honestly about to break down in tears.

I had just made myself look extremely stupid, and not only that, I drew attention to myself like _this_, and to top it off, the guy I looked stupid in front of _and_ managed to piss off at the same time was my partner.

Rolling off of him was the most painful thing I've ever done, after I hit a table and felt my elbow start to throb.

"I was… your back pocket…" See? I looked so stupid, I even started to sound stupid.

Kellyn looked confused as he stood up and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small packet.

With his eyes locked on me, he ripped it with his hands and poured the contents into his hand. His Pachirisu went crazy as it made its way over to Kellyn. He slowly knelt down and held out his hand, in which the Pachirisu gladly ate up all of whatever was in his hand. I didn't bother with specifics, though.

"_Pokémon food. I was terrified… over Pokémon food."_

My eyes began to cloud up. I knew what was coming. All in the same order, every time. First came the uncontrollable lump in my throat that doesn't allow me to speak unless I wanted to start right there and then.

"_Don't cry, not today. Don't cry… not today…"_

But I had to say something.

"U-um… I-I'm sorry… M-misunderstanding…"

Next: shaking.

Kellyn's blank face suddenly went sharp as he picked up his bottle of water from the small table.

"Don't assume things next time. Makes you look stupid."

Last but not least, dizziness. If I didn't go somewhere to let it all out, I would just faint right there and then.

The only thing I knew was that I had gotten up and started running. I'm not too sure where I was running to, but I had to get away. I couldn't do it anymore.

**Lounge**

The room was speechless after Eden had made a break for it, leaving the lounge door swinging in and out like in one of those old cowboy movies.

Kate was the first to speak. Or scream.

"_Kellyn, how dare you make her cry?!"_

His only response was a shrug as he sat down on a vacant couch, drinking his water.

It was completely silent for a moment until the room was suddenly coated in darkness as all the power went out.

Tripp squeaked, which ignited laughter throughout the room, but then there was more rustling around.

"What's your problem?!"

"Why'd you have to call her stupid?! She's sensitive, you-"

"I can call her whatever I want!"

The power suddenly cut back on for half a second, but that was enough for the whole room to see what was going on.

Kellyn and Tripp were duking it out right there on the ground, wrestling each other.

The lights flickered back on after a few moments as the fight progressed.

"Take it back!"

Tripp growled loudly as he grasped Kellyn's jacket in a tightly. Without waiting for an answer, Tripp proceeded to shake Kellyn violently until Lunick and Sven had to pull the two apart.

"C'mon, you two! That's no way to treat each other after you meet for the first time…" Lunick was lightly scolding the two of them, but neither took notice.

Tripp glowered into Kellyn's eyes. "Doesn't mean you have to be a prick, now does it?"

Keith shook his head. "Come on, new guy. I think Kells just has some issues of his own right now. Like… having that one girl tackle him. I mean, come on, being tackled by a _girl?!"_

"Shut up, moron," Kellyn snarled. "I just don't even understand why the hell she jumped on me!"

"She thought you had a weapon on me and that you were about to use it on me." Tripp interjected, Gallade crossing his arms over his chest in agreement. "Galla."

Wendy jumped up from the couch. "Okay, no one cares about what she thought or why you guys are fighting! The truth of the matter is, that she just ran off, alone, and the power ran out. She's sensitive, isn't that what you said, Tripp?"

Tripp nodded slowly, his gaze flicking back to Kellyn again. "She cried once when I told her that we might have to get new stylers because our old ones were getting beat up," he growled through his gritted teeth.

"Well, then we gotta go find her!" Summer immediately volunteered.

"I'll go," Ben offered, instantly jumping to Summer's side. She looked up at him and nodded as they rushed out of the room.

It was silent for a full three minutes until Kellyn stood up, pushing Sven off of him. "Tch, I'm done. Goodnight."

He disappeared to the shadows to the right to grab a blanket, then settled behind the girl's couch and laid his head down to sleep, out of sight and out of mind.

**Eden**

I was running, and that's when it happened. It was suddenly completely dark and gloomy… to the point where I couldn't see a thing in front of me.

"G-great…" I whispered to myself, still feeling myself violently shaking.

What my new partner had said to me was hurtful and rude, no matter how true it was. I had even started to cry because of it. Although I knew I would probably end up forgiving him immediately, like I usually did, it felt like I was scored by his words.

I attempted to keep moving throughout the completely dark building, hearing sounds of creaking and people talking… but I had no idea where I was going and how to get back.

"I-I've gotta get back…" My voice had begun to come back to me just a little bit, but not even nearly enough to make me stop crying.

Suddenly, an ominous, repetitive sound caught my attention. Footsteps.

"Eden?! Where are you?!" There was a light… a small one, but good enough, that blinded me for a moment.

"There you are!" Summer's familiar voice was enough to make me cry again; even though I am a Ranger, and Rangers should know to take care of themselves… I was terrified, mainly because I was already upset, but terrified nonetheless.

As she hugged me after I began to cry again, the lights suddenly popped back on, mighty and bright, and I could see that her face was blood red. Before I could ask any questions, Ben's eyebrows went up.

"Eden, are you okay?"

I nodded; I wasn't really in the mood for being babied at the moment. "Y-yeah, I'm fine…"

"Listen," he continued on, an apologetic look engulfing his features. "I'm sorry about what Kellyn said to you, I don't know what's gotten into him these days. He's just had issues with… other people."

Nodding in understanding, I dared to ask my new question:

"I-is he always like that to people?"

Ben and Summer glanced at each other, but Summer took over. "No… at least, he never used to be. He used to be the funniest, nicest guy around here… but that was a long time ago, I guess."

Honestly, I was starting to get the point as I was escorted back to the lounge. Whatever Kellyn had gone through or was going through had changed him. The same thing happens to the Pokémon around us.

"_I'll try to understand. I promise."_

We reached the orange lounge again after a few moments of silence, and once Ben opened the door, there was a little surprise waiting for us.

A semi-circle.

The worst thing in the world, in my personal opinion. All it meant to me was that we were going to have a heart-to-heart conversation.

**Kellyn**

Honestly, as soon as I laid my head on the cushiony ground, I felt terrible.

Since when had I _ever_ made anyone cry like that?

"_Maybe she's just a crybaby… like that Tripp guy said. Maybe all she does is cry about everything and it's not actually my fault…"_

Though, no matter how much I told myself it was not my fault, it was completely my fault. I knew I had said something incredibly insensitive to her and that I should apologize, but in reality, I knew I couldn't.

Tch… her and her stupid blue hair, and her annoyingly green eyes… they looked like apples! Immature, ugly, green apples! Everything about her already annoyed me…

"Hey, guys," Ben's personally irritating voice interrupted my thoughts. "Why the circle?"

There was a shaky silence until I heard the words I never wanted to hear:

"We want to tell you about Rosalie."

* * *

Yeah, it's been awhile since I've left anyone on cliffhangers before… sorry about that D:

Anyway, I'm sorry the first chapter was such a drag, and I hope this one fits your tastes better :D

I would LOVE to have feedback as to how to make this story better :D

Rate/Review!


	3. Rosalie

_Flashback:_

"_Hey, guys," Ben's personally irritating voice interrupted my thoughts. "Why the circle?"_

_There was a shaky silence until I heard the words I never wanted to hear:_

"_We want to tell you about Rosalie."_

Chapter 3: Rosalie

(That rhymes!)

**Kellyn**

I didn't even need to hear the story to know how all of it went, but I went ahead and listened anyway.

"R-Rosalie?" Eden's quiet voice made me shiver… Rosalie's name sounded so pretty when it was said by her. Not like that, of course.

"Yeah… We've actually done this partner thing before… but we stopped because something happened…" Lunick muttered, and I rolled on my side to try and see his face. He was turned away from me, though.

Solana sighed. "Also, um… we don't want you to be confused as to why Kellyn acts the way he does. It's because of her that he is very sharp to people…"

"_Tch,"_ I snorted in my mind after hearing Solana's stupid excuse for me being the way that I am. _"I don't want to hear about Rosalie…"_

My heart was already racing though. I couldn't help it with even the _thought_ of Rosalie.

* * *

"_Hey! Hey guys, guess what! I have great news!"_

_Solana was running toward me, waving a paper in her hand._

"_What do you want?" I growled, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand up._

_Solana was dancing around. "My best friend from back home… she's coming here to become a Top Ranger! I felt so bad when I left her and went with Lunick to come here…"_

"_Congratulations." _

_Honestly, at that moment, I couldn't even think about this supposed new Ranger. I had my own missions to help out with all over the freaking region, and I didn't need anyone in my_ _way._

* * *

"Oh, I remember the day she came here… she was just, I mean…" Lunick was tripping over his words now, which totally snapped me out of my thoughts.

I opened my eyes for a split second to see Eden's green eyes wide and confused.

"Oh… I understand."

Pachirisu climbed up on my head and curled his tail over my eyes as I resisted moving whatsoever. Not that I wanted to; I was drifting down memory lane.

* * *

"She's coming!"

Solana was literally making sure every single one of us was clean and tidy, not letting us go even a step behind her if we were considered 'unclean' or 'unsightly'.

"I can literally _see_ her climbing up here!"

Her shrill pitch was enough to make me flinch.

"I know, I know," I heard Lunick mutter before the door opened.

A Roserade stepped into the room we were standing in first, and Kate flew toward it.

"It's so cute!"

"Rose!" The Roserade cried out, sticking its roses toward her before Kate could get too close.

A taller, skinny figure walked through the door. Her medium green eyes and pale blue hair stuck with me as she smirked.

"Where are my Ranger pals, hmm?"

Now, honestly, I couldn't stand the smirk on her stupid face. I didn't like the way she acted already. But what I didn't know was that we'd be partners later.

* * *

My eyes shot back open as Pachirisu moved off of me and I could see Solana smiling a sad, yet unbelievably happy smile.

"She… was my best friend."

Eden's ocean blue curls bounced in and out of her face as her eyes widened. "W-what happened to her? What is it about her and Kellyn that makes him act… act this way?"

"_Makes me act what way? She didn't change me."_ I tried to argue with myself, but it was too hard to defy the fact that Rosalie changed everything about me.

* * *

"Kellyn," Hastings stared at me from behind his glasses. "You and Rosalie will be partners from now on, okay?"

My Pachirisu started running around her Roserade happily.

"Pachi! Pachi!"

Her eyes immediately met mine. "Why'd you stick me with someone as stupid and weird as him?"

Honestly, I didn't know what it was about her that made my blood boil. Maybe it was because she made it so annoyingly hard to like her, but after a while… our friendship made its way into the spectrum.

* * *

"She absolutely hated him when they first met, too." I listened into the conversation now, not letting myself think of all of the times that I fell for her.

I could hear Eden giggle slightly. "I'm sure I could see that happening. But," her voice got quieter as I opened one eye. "What happened to her?"

* * *

"Rangers! There's a forest fire in Vein Forest and they need all the help they can get! Get out there on your Staraptors now; the Area Rangers can't handle it!"

I was on my feet instantly as I grabbed my styler on the orange couch next to me. I don't really remember what was going on in my mind at that moment, but what I do know is that I had to get down there.

Outside, I remember flying side-by-side Rosalie and had Lunick on my other side. When we landed, there was nothing but smoke even in Vein town. I couldn't see a thing in front of me for a few moments, until our Staraptor used Gust to blow everything away.

"_MOVE!" _

A loud voice made me jump as I turned to see Barlow, my former base leader, running as fast as his large body would carry him toward the origins of the fire.

Rosalie stared at me for a moment, motioned for her Roserade to follow her and disappeared after Barlow.

My feet began to move rapidly in the other direction.

"_The first thing I have to find is a water-type… a Blastoise would be preferable…" _

Through my thinking, I passed a lake where a wild Squirtle was wading in the water.

"Hey, Squirtle! Do you mind helping me out?"

It stared up at me quizzically as I tried to hurriedly explain.

"There… there's a fire over there and I need some water types… do you know any Blastoise around here that could help?"

It smiled at me and motioned with its tail. "Squirt!"

I followed it as it wadded through the water and suddenly stopped and began talking in its language. "Squirtle squirt… Squirtle!"

A large shadow appeared over me as I whipped out my styler.

"Fine, if you don't want to go quietly…"

The Blastoise stared down at me as I drew circles around it until it growled and took a deep breath.

"_Water pulse…"_

I jumped out of the way and felt my styler ding, signaling that the friendship between us had been established.

"Follow me," My voice was raising in concentration. What if I was too late?

I made my way over to see everyone who lived in Vein town standing outside, looking on at the fire.

"I hope no Pokémon got hurt…" A little girl was pacing worriedly as she held her Buneary close to her chest.

I hurried to the front and directed the Blastoise with me.

"Okay, Blastoise… use your most powerful water move on the fire, okay?"

It nodded to the command and immediately began to spray every fire as I trailed behind, watching every flame go out in moments.

I noticed the grass was pitch black, if there _was_ any in some places.

The trees still smoked even if they were completely put out.

"_Where are all of the Pokémon?" _I asked myself, feeling Pachirisu shake on my shoulder.

My styler beeped, making me jump.

"Anyone hear me?" Solana's high pitched voice took me back. "Where's Rosalie?"

My heart stopped as I remembered her, faintly, racing into the fire.

"She's gotta still be here, in the forest!" My voice sounded cold and monotone, but it must have been because I was still concentrating and making sure that the fire was put completely out.

"Ah, hell," Lunick snarled suddenly. "I'll go look for her!"

I didn't even know he was on the line at all or anything. A click of my styler put me off the line as well and I raced forward, not caring if I got burned or anything.

"Rosalie, where are you?"

My voice sounded loud enough for her to hear me, but no answer was heard as I kept racing forward into the on-going flames.

Burning leaves and branches hit my face as I forced myself to keep moving and find my partner.

"R-rose…"

A movement caught my eye as I slid to a stop, almost rocketing forward. Roserade was walking toward me, burns covering its body and making it flinch as it took even steps.

Lunick came rushing toward me moments later.

"Roserade? Then… where-?" The Roserade let out a faint cry and looked back into the smoldering trees where it came from.

I'm not too sure what I felt after that, I don't remember, but Lunick burst into tears right then and there. Not the loud, obnoxious sobs that children let out, but real crying.

I didn't cry until she was… confirmed, though.

* * *

"J-just like that?" Eden's high-pitched, yet quiet voice asked.

I could feel the familiar lump in my throat as I remembered Roserade leaving our base just like that, as Eden said.

We haven't seen it since, either.

There was a movement of feet and I heard her brother, Tripp, mutter something along the lines of "That's a terrible way to die," and that's how I felt myself lose it.

I hadn't even allowed myself to _think_ of Rosalie and how _I_ let her die by letting her go by herself. Some fucking partner I was.

A single tear found its way out of my left eye and rolled onto the ground slowly, but that was all I let myself let out.

Rosalie was just a person who was going to be locked in my heart forever, and I would never let her go, no matter if she's dead or not. I just wished I could have been there in her final moments, or at least _said_ something to her.

"I don't think Kellyn has ever let go of her… after that incident, he's been different." I closed my eyes again, acting like I was asleep, when I heard Wendy speaking for the first time.

"He hates when he has to work with other people now, and he prefers going out on errands alone."

It was true, though. I haven't been able to even _stand_ the thought of being responsible for someone and then just ultimately letting them die.

I heard Eden's voice now. "I-I'm a Ranger now, and-and I can take care of myself."

Everyone laughed at her small comment. "He'll probably expect you to take care of yourself until you two become better acquainted with each other," Lunick explained to her. "Maybe after he warms up to you, you two might be better suited as actual partners."

What Lunick said had reminded me that, despite the past, I had a new partner and her name was Eden. She and Rosalie were quite the opposite; Rosalie having a loud personality, and Eden having a quiet one.

"_Honestly,"_ I thought to myself. _"I'll try, Rosalie. I'll try to make our partnership work."_

**Eden**

After hearing the story about this mysterious Rosalie girl, I felt instant sympathy for Kellyn. I now understood why he felt the way he did about meeting me. I _was_ the first partner he's had since then.

Tripp only shrugged, jumping onto the only abandoned couch.

"I'm catchin' some Z's, guys. 'Night."

Gallade settled down on the floor next to him, glaring but not seeming threatening, and lay down almost identically to my brother as they closed their eyes.

I sighed and turned back to the many Rangers in front of me.

"W-where were all of the other Rangers? When the fire happened, I mean?" My voice was slowly becoming more confident as I warmed up to my new comrades.

"Well, Keith and I were sent out on a long-term mission off in the Fiore region around the time she got here, so I never really talked to her besides that first day, and then seeing her on our styler-camera's once or twice," Kate offered, and Keith shrugged, looking oddly lost for words for once.

Ben shrugged too. "Summer and I weren't Top Rangers just yet at the time, so I can't say I knew her personally, but I've heard too many stories to count."

Solana shivered for a moment, and I could suddenly see how much mental pain just retelling the story had caused her.

"She was… my best friend in the whole wide world… and I can't believe she was taken from us… just like that."

Lunick leaned over and gave her a brief hug, making even _me_ blush just a bit, and he muttered:

"I think we should follow in Kellyn and Tripp's footsteps. It's time for bed because who knows; we might have crazy missions to attend to in the morning."

With that, everyone began to find comfortable places on the floor to sleep, and I ended up close to the kitchen as I heard Keith mutter "What the hell are we gonna do with all these snacks?"

"We'll eat them in the morning," Sven snorted, the first time I had heard him speak a word throughout the entire explanation of the history of before I got there.

Someone turned out the lights, and I remember thinking briefly for a moment about what the last moments of Rosalie's life could have been like.

"_I'll try to understand him. I promise."_

* * *

Okay, how'd you like it? Wasn't that great in some parts, but I actually tried pretty hard here.

Also: sorry if I ruined any days with this kinda sad chap I:

Sorry this took so long, too I:

Rate/Review… I don't have any of those yet. xD


	4. Good Morning!

_Flashback:_

_Someone turned out the lights, and I remember thinking briefly for a moment about what the last moments of Rosalie's life could have been like._

"_I'll try to understand him. I promise."_

Chapter 4: Good Morning!

**Eden**

I woke up to the sun hitting my face, and as I slowly stood to stretch, I noticed no one but I stirred from the sunlight.

"_I wonder… would they mind if I got breakfast going for them?"_

Personally, I loved to cook. It was something that I absolutely lived for and I couldn't help but cook for anyone and everyone when I had the chance.

"_I think I'm going to make eggs and bacon today… everyone loves eggs and bacon, right?"_

Trying my hardest not to screw anything else up by tripping over someone, I jumped toward the kitchen and began to look for any kind of ingredients and breakfast pans.

I glanced over at Tripp and saw that Gallade was awake, but seemed to almost refuse to get up before his partner.

The sight made my heart wrench in the familiar, jealous way.

"_Why don't I have a partner?"_

Was it because I was ugly? I hope not… I'm not ugly! I'm not _that_ bad, at least…

I don't think it's because I'm mean, either…

_Clang, clink!_

The pan I had been holding hit the floor like a bomb and a couple people shot up immediately.

"Pichu!"

A Pichu holding a ukulele raced over to me and looked around frantically.

"Uke Peach, it's okay…" Summer mumbled as she stood up. "Eden, what are you doing up this early in the morning?"

"I, um… I was going to make everyone breakfast."

Summer paused for a long moment and stared blankly at me, as if she hadn't understood what I had said, but then it seemed to come to her.

"Breakfast? No one ever makes breakfast around here…"

I shrugged, trying to cover up my embarrassment. "I can't help it… I love to cook… do you have any kind of bacon or eggs around here?"

She nodded and showed me the fridge, where everything was in a small compartment that I wouldn't have seen had she not pointed it out.

"You wanna help me, Summer? Along with Uke Peach?"

The Pichu smiled up at me and strummed it's ukulele happily, making a _twang_ sound.

**Kellyn**

Immediately, my shoulder was wrenched in a way that I absolutely couldn't ignore.

"_Ah, shit…"_ I blinked three times in the light to see Ben on top of me as I rolled away.

"Get off of me," I growled, looking around for Pachirisu.

He only stared at me again and smiled. "I already love your partner, Kellyn."

I felt my eyebrows crease in confusion. What could that klutz have done to make people suddenly like her?

"Why? What did she do?" The aroma of bacon and eggs hit my nose as my eyes shot open.

Ben rubbed the top of my head. "Yep," He smirked. "Breakfast."

I shook my head, clearing it. Since when did my partner not mess anything up?

My sister ran toward me with a plate.

"Eat up, Kells! There's plenty more if you're hungry." Her Pachirisu squeaked encouragingly as she held the plate out to me.

"_I could get used to this…"_

Not once had anyone in the base even bothered to make breakfast; usually we all went out on patrol and used our own money to buy our own food somewhere else.

My base-mates were huddled up near each other, even though usually in the morning, they were ready to start fights left and right.

Tripp stood up and stretched. "Whatcha got cooking today, Sis?"

Eden was wearing a black and white checkered apron as she turned around, spatula in hand.

"Bacon and eggs! Hurry before Ben eats them all!"

My eyebrow rose; did she and Tripp eat this well every morning back at the base they were at?

Before I could answer my own question, though, Lunick grabbed my jacket.

"Eat up, Kellyn. I gotta run through with you what you have to teach your partner and what I'll be teaching that Lone Ranger Tripp about."

I held onto my plate for dear life as I was literally dragged toward the door.

"Okay," Lunick muttered as he closed the door behind us. "Now, the number one priority is to show her around the region. They're from Fiore, right?"

I nodded and watched him lean against the door and put his arms behind his head.

"Oh yeah, and we're going to need to get them their brand new stylers and show them how to use them. That's gonna be _so much fun…"_

I smirked when I saw exasperation enter his gaze as he glared at me and then my plate.

"Are you going to eat any of that or what? It's gonna get cold."

"Oh, yeah, sure." I began to hurriedly eat what was on my plate as Lunick stared off into the distance of the darkened halls.

"Anything else you can think of?"

He asked me suddenly as I stuffed the last piece of delicious bacon in my mouth.

"Um," That's when it hit me.

"I'm going to teach Eden how to fight."

Lunick flew off of the door. "But… Rosalie… don't you remember what happened last time, idiot?!"

I didn't flinch at what he had just called me; he was right, but I have to teach her how to defend herself.

"What if, by chance, she doesn't know how? I don't want that to be the reason she fails a mission. She should know how to defend herself, but obviously she has no clue."

He stared at me even more intensely until his arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay. Fine. Teach her if you want to."

I shrugged as I opened the door again. "Okay, well… I'm going to do two things at once. The tour and the stylers. Okay with you?"

Lunick glared at me; an icy, stone-cold glare that made me prone to glare straight back.

"'Kay," he finally muttered. "Just don't do anything she's not ready for yet, okay?"

Nodding, I walked into the room to see Uke Peach on top of the counter, playing his ukulele happily.

All partner Pokémon were gathered around him in an interested manner. My base-mates stared at him as well; it wasn't very often he played in the mornings.

Eden smiled at Uke Peach and went straight to washing the dishes.

I placed mine on top of the pile and walked to my room. The walls were still in the process of being knocked out to make the room bigger, and all my stuff was neatly wrapped in bubble wrap so the new paint job wouldn't ruin anything.

To be honest, I had no idea what to think of my partner.

As I grabbed my ranger uniform off of my bed, I tore off my casual clothes.

"_Eden… what kind of ranger is she? Will she have the potential to become better than me?"_

I finally pulled all of my clothes over my head and walked back out to the kitchen area to find the place practically spotless and Eden was nowhere to be seen.

Lunick was sitting on an orange couch with Tripp and his Gallade, and I butted into their conversation.

"Where is she?"

Tripp looked up at me with a glare.

"She went to change into her Ranger uniform just now."

I nodded and sat down on the other side of the couch to wait for her as Lunick resumed his conversation with Tripp.

"Okay, so I am going to take you to test your skills out and teach you how to use your styler, alright?"

It was then when I realized I had no idea exactly what I was going to do with Eden at first. Even though there were quite a few options.

"_I could either teach her how to use her styler, too… that's a smart move, but most likely she'd want something like a tour around Almia… I guess I could ask for a mission or something…"_

Deep in thought, Lunick had to smack me to get my attention.

"Kellyn, what do you think you and Eden are going to do?"

"Uh," I paused for a moment. "I think I'm going to get a mission from Hastings or something… to test field skills…"

Lunick's eyes widened in a disappointed way as he sighed.

"What if she's not ready for that yet, Kells?"

My mouth dropped open.

"What the hell do you mean not ready for it? She is the one who is apparently good at what she does, so I don't see why she wouldn't be ready for a simple mission!"

Lunick glared at me with his dark, navy blue eyes as Tripp stood up to stretch, Gallade following in his footsteps.

"I think Kellyn is right, 'Nick. My sister may be _kinda_ a wuss, but she can handle herself on missions."

"Start calling me 'Nick and I'll murder you."

Before I had to jump into the fray and stop a dogfight from breaking out, Eden's voice distracted me.

"Um… is this the way that the uniform is supposed to be worn?"

I turned my head slightly to see her shiny medium blue hair unkempt and falling to her shoulders, as if she was stressed.

"Eden," I stood up and walked toward her. "I think we're going to get our first mission today."

I tried to be nice to her, yet I also tried to be a leader in our partnership.

She smiled lightly at me as she turned around. "That's great! I'll get my styler and-"

I grabbed her arm as she turned toward the rooms.

"You're getting a new styler, so don't worry about that. Um, we might be gone awhile, depending on the mission given to us so… yeah, never mind,"

I let her arm out of my grasp. "Go get ready."

Eden's smile was ridiculously wide as she hurried to wherever she must have stored her stuff.

After turning back to Tripp and Lunick, I found both of them staring at me.

"…What?"

Tripp started to shake his head, Gallade appearing close to him and shaking his head as well.

Lunick smirked at me, but didn't say anything else really.

"Don't even think that, you idiot," I snorted, feeling my eyes widen yet sharpen at the same time.

Lunick smirked again. "Sorry, I couldn't help it." Then his eyes sharpened. "And who are ya callin' an idiot?!"

I snorted, shaking my head as Pachirisu ran up to me and began poking at my leg, asking for food.

"Ah, forget it."

I knelt down and pulled out a pack of Pokémon food from my back pocket and tore it open into my hand.

Pachirisu nearly attacked me, honestly.

"Pachi, pachi!"

I smirked for a moment, but I was distracted by a knock at the door to the lounge.

Lunick and Tripp glanced at each other as Lunick got up to answer it, but it opened the instant before he could touch the doorknob.

Professor Hastings was standing there, white mustache, glasses, beard and all.

He poked his cane into Lunick's chest. "Still can't beat me to the door, and I need a third leg to help me. Sad."

"Um, professor… can I talk to you for a moment?"

Hastings nodded to me and we walked into the kitchen area, where I turned to him.

"I've decided my first order of business with Eden is to take her out on a mission. Are there any that will help me assess her skills?"

"Ah," Hastings smirked and began to scratch his beard. "I understand. There _is_ one, that is, if you're up to the challenge."

**Eden**

I hurried over to the room where I had put all of my clothes in one place. My previous clothes I had been wearing were sprawled about the floor.

"_I hope whatever Kellyn has planned will be great,"_ I mused to myself. _"I just hope we can bond and be friends… he seems like he needs one, the sourpuss."_

As I began to straighten my hair in the first mirror I could find, I glanced into the corner of the reflective surface to see Kate and Summer, creeping up on me.

"AH!"

I must have jumped a million feet in the air because my head suddenly throbbed with pain.

Laughter lit up the room. "Chill, new kid, it's us!" Kate smirked. "Anyway, I heard that you and my brother are going on a mission first thing."

My jaw dropped. _"M-mission?!"_ My mind was whirling in all kinds of directions and I felt my legs start to wobble a little.

"It pays to eavesdrop sometimes," Kate went on. "I don't know any details, but-"

"Where's Eden?" Kellyn burst through the sound barrier between Kate, Summer, and I as he flew into the room.

Summer shrugged. "Maybe she's right in front of you."

He stopped and stared at me as he regained his composure.

"Yes?" I inquired, feeling my head tilt questioningly.

Kellyn huffed, which was more of a 'hmph' kind of sound, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"So, I think you're intelligent enough to know about the Pokémon research team that is currently housed up at Shiver Camp near Hia Valley, right?"

I nodded, wondering what he was getting at. Kate's jaw seemed to come unhinged, though.

"Kellyn! But its cold-" He only needed to glare at her to make her stop protesting for me, although I was ready for anything.

"Yeah, they need a couple of Rangers up there to help them with the research they're doing up there. Since we're both gifted with a brain, Hastings gave us this mission. You up for it?"

My eyes must have bulged out of my head. "Up for it?! I'm ready!" I felt my foot pop up to almost my side.

Summer shook her head. "Kellyn, you should know how dangerous it is up there! It's literally her first day with us and you're sending her out into the below zero temperatures…"

I jumped back a step when I heard the fierceness in his tone: "It won't be just her; _I'll_ be going, too! And I didn't accept it because I thought it would kill her… I did it because she's good at research, and so am I. And it won't be for a day. We'll be there for approximately a week."

"A week?" I gasped as I leaned against a wall to prop myself up so I wouldn't shake anymore.

He nodded to me as he turned around. "I'll wait outside. Say your last goodbyes." And he literally walked out silently.

"I'll go get my bags then-" "Already taken care of. I did it earlier for you," Kellyn's voice sounded down the hall. "Now hurry up."

My face felt as if it was burning. "He… touched my clothes…"

Kate's eyes opened wide. "Oh… don't take it that personally… he used to do that for Rosalie, too, so I think he's just used to it."

Summer smiled lightly at me. "Good luck! See you in about a week!"

I smiled as I put my brush down and waved the two of them goodbye while sprinting out of the building, not paying attention to the blobs of colors and people that I passed by.

The sun hit my face as I ran out of the automatic door near the front as an Operator wished me good luck.

Sighing, I took in a deep breath and stood in the door for a moment before finally taking my first step out.

My first mission as a Top Ranger had already begun!

* * *

Okay, it's been awhile since I played the game so bear with me… I have a couple of ideas and tricks up my sleeve (as always) so BE PREPAREDDDDD!

Not only that, but I need to give Chapter 1 a revamp because it's eh. I'll try to work it in.

NOT ONLY THAT, but school and exams are comin up and all that so I might not post (like normal) sorry !

Rate and Review :3 Favorite, too… I like those, too...


	5. Walking

_Flashback:_

_The sun hit my face as I ran out of the automatic door near the front as an Operator wished me good luck._

_Sighing, I took in a deep breath and stood in the door for a moment before finally taking my first step out._

_My first mission as a Top Ranger had already begun!_

Chapter 5: Walking...

**Eden**

As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see Kellyn waiting outside on a ledge with two bags sitting near him.

He turned his head toward me.

"Eden," he sighed as he stood up. "Well… our mission is to do research with the research team in Shiver Camp. Murph's dad works down there."

"Who's Murph?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I picked up my black and blue bag filled with clothes.

Kellyn froze for a moment, then picked up his red bag and shrugged. "Oh, I forgot… you don't know him, do you?"

Shaking my head, I followed him down the steep path down to the mainstream path that led in all sorts of directions.

He turned down a dim path, making me immediately stop. "Are you sure that… that is the right way?"

Kellyn turned around, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Uh… yeah. Eden, why are you so scared of everything?"

That last sentence was said in an almost rude way, that I immediately backed off and hurried up to catch him.

"Y-you're right, sorry."

He didn't bother to answer me back as we carried on walking through the darker forest. The trees were so thick, that the sun was blocked out in most places, so it looked like it was night.

An Oddish passed by us, jumping around with its little friends, running into the bushes and branches wherever they pleased.

"Aww," I smiled, bending down to pet one of the Oddish that stopped in front of me.

Kellyn paused for a moment when another attacked his leg playfully, and he turned back to me.

"We better hurry. We can't catch the Staraptor near the base… they're not built for long distance. We have to get Staraptor deep into this forest. That's something Ros- …someone taught me."

I stared at his face; the way he stared at the Oddish for a moment. It was as if he was reminiscing, but he snapped out of it and pushed past the Pokémon and went ahead.

"Kellyn, wait!" I bid the small crowd of excited Pokémon farewell and caught up to my speed-walking partner.

He didn't bother to stop, and when I finally caught up to him he turned to me, anger flashing in his eyes.

"We have to hurry. No more pit stops, got it?"

My jaw hung wide open, but before I could answer, I heard a terrifying cry:

"_OWAHWAWA!"_

My ears immediately recognized the cry of a Metagross immediately and I started toward it.

Metagross was one of the scariest Pokémon in my personal opinion, but they were screaming it seemed like.

"_Not out of pain… not out of anger…"_

I ran off of the beaten path and into the bushes, toward the noise.

"Damn it…" Kellyn's growl made me turn and hit a tree because I wasn't looking where the hell I was going.

"Kellyn! Did you not hear those Metagross just now?!" The pain in my head faded away as I tried to catch my partner's eyes.

His eyes sharpened as he sighed. "We don't have that kind of time, Eden…"

"We're Rangers, aren't we?" My voice was starting to rise, which wasn't normal for me. "We're supposed to help Pokémon whenever we can! And if you have ears, smart guy, I think that a Pokémon does not sound normal, does it?!"

Kellyn's eyes widened as he stared at me, clearly surprised. "…Fine." The response he had given me was not surprised, nor scared or angry. Just matter-of-factly, which seemed ordinary for him.

I felt a smile creep up my face as I sprinted toward where the noise was coming from, making sure to dodge all of the Caterpie and the possible Beedrill nests.

My partner's steps sounded only seconds behind my own, and we made our way through the thick of the forest in what seemed like moments.

At the first sight of a Metagross, I stopped in my tracks as my partner ran into me and caused me to fall face first into the dirt.

"_Idiot,"_ I growled in my thoughts, too modest and thoughtful to utter the word verbally.

I stood up and glared at Kellyn, but his eyes were glued on the scene in front of us:

The Metagross weren't angry or scared… they were almost laughing and playing catch…

With a Pokémon egg.

* * *

Oh-ho-ho. I am such a bad person, leaving y'all on a cliffhanger like that again. I'm sorry…

Oh yeah… this chapter is literally less than 800 words (besides Author's Note)… I'm sorry again D: I will post next chapter as soon as I can D:

Anyway, I'm glad that this story is getting more fans ^_^

Rate, Review, Favorite and put on Alerts, people ~ It makes my self-esteem literally go through the roof. xD


	6. Metagross vs Rangers!

_Flashback:_

_I stood up and glared at Kellyn, but his eyes were glued on the scene in front of us:_

_The Metagross weren't angry or scared… they were almost laughing and playing catch…_

_With a Pokémon egg._

Chapter 6: Metagross vs. Rangers!

**Kellyn**

When I saw what the Pokémon were doing to that poor egg, I felt an impulse to go in there and stop it.

"_Even though I'm probably safe to say we don't have time for this… Eden was right. We're both Rangers and that's what we're gonna do."_

I dropped my luggage and pulled out my styler and positioned it in front of me, capture style.

"Eden," I whispered to my partner. "Get ready with your styler, I'll teach you how to use it."

She turned toward me and nodded. "Sure."

As she mirrored me and got into capture position, her bare arm caught both of us off guard.

"Styler? Where is it?! Did I leave it somewhere? Oh no, did the Oddish take it? Shitshitshit…"

I was confused out of my mind as well. _"What kind of Ranger forgets their styler?" _But then I remembered where it was.

"Oh, Eden, I packed it in your bag… my fault, I should have given it to you," I whispered, keeping my voice down.

Eden only sighed in relief and looked around for her bag which she dropped at her feet. When she couldn't see it anywhere in sight, she turned to me.

"Kellyn, where is it? Where'd you see me put it down?"

I snorted. _"You're kidding, right? Since when am I responsible for HER stuff?"_

Nonetheless, I looked around anyway and saw a Beldum, mischievous little one, put its head through the straps of Eden's bag and carry it off toward the pack of Metagross.

"Wait! Stop!" I growled, and I could see Eden just frozen in shock out of the corner of my eye.

The Beldum only seemed to close its only eye in a laughing manner and it continued toward the Metagross.

Once there, it dropped the bag and the Metagross decided that it would make a great second ball and began tossing it around as well.

I sighed, feeling that not only did we have to save the egg, but Eden's bag of clothes and her styler as well, I geared myself up.

"Eden," I stared at her. "Cover me."

Even though my new partner was literally known to be a wuss… she was amazingly calm about this new dilemma.

She nodded and took a position behind me as we both began to walk forward toward the excited Pokémon.

**Eden**

I was personally terrified of this. We absolutely _had_ to get my bag back, with everything it had in it, and we also had to save the poor Pokémon egg.

As I moved in behind my partner, I could almost feel how tense his body became, even though we were a full foot away from each other.

The same tenseness came from every issue Rangers faced; our lives could be at stake any moment on a mission, and we knew it. We made sure we were ready for any moment at any time to protect ourselves, other Pokémon, and each other.

"You're ready, Kellyn?" My voice seemed unnaturally controlled and calm; in any other situation, I'd be crying for my mother.

Kellyn seemed to not even have to answer me as he only nodded and concentrated on making sure he didn't make so much noise.

I backed him up every step of the way… until I almost stepped on a Wurmple.

"_AH!"_ I screamed at the top of my lungs, falling over to avoid the poor Bug Type, and watching my partner shake violently from my sudden scream.

The Metagross and the lone Beldum turned in the height of their game just to stare at Kellyn and I.

"Eden, damn it…" He growled under his breath, but said nothing more as the Metagross held their two playthings on the top of their heads and made their ways over to surround us.

**Kellyn**

As the now-angered Pokémon surrounded my partner and I, I tried to be smart and calculate out what the hell we should do next.

"_Okay… should we run? No, no, that would not be smart, okay? That would be stupid…"_

The Metagross, every single one of them, had red, piercing eyes that could even scare me if I hadn't seen so many in my life time.

Pachirisu, whom, for the moment, I had forgotten was tucked away inside a small compartment I had cut into the back of my uniform, jumped out onto the ground.

"Pachi, pachi, pachipachi, pach!"

I could understand what my small friend had asked of them. _("The hell are you doing?")_

One of them, appearing to be the biggest one… and the leader… stepped forward, opening its mouth and making metallic sounds that hurt my ears to listen to.

Eden visibly flinched as well, and Pachirisu took over, asking the lead Metagross questions and wondering what was going on with them.

"K-Kellyn," Eden whispered to me suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "What?"

"What if… what if they kill us?"

The question hadn't even surfaced into my mind yet.

"Eden, don't be completely stupid. They're not going to kill us."

Pachirisu suddenly jumped back from the Metagross, scurrying back to me and hiding behind me, even though we were surrounded by the same angry Metagross.

"What's wrong, Pachirisu?" I asked, and he began to chuckle to me, fast and almost indecipherably.

I could only catch a few words, but that was clearly enough.

"Metagross," I addressed all of them in the same way, grabbing their attentions. "Please, do not destroy the egg. I will have to capture you against your will so you can hand it over to us… in safe hands."

A couple of them protested for a moment, looking at each other in crazy ways.

Eden stared at me for a moment and stood up, walking toward a particularly smaller Metagross from the rest, and attempted to try to get the egg off of its head.

I tried to voice what a stupid move that was, but it was too late and the Metagross had already reacted.

**Eden**

I immediately tried to get the soon-to-be Pokémon off of the Metagross's head, and that's when I felt a gut-wrenching pain in my stomach area as the Pokémon pushed me away.

"Are you okay?!" My partner seemed to see me glaring at me as he asked me if I was doing okay.

"Yes, I'm fine," I sighed from my new spot on the foresty ground.

Pachirisu immediately began hurling harsh-sounding words toward the pack of Metagross, and they all took a step backward for a moment.

The leader stared at me expectantly as he motioned to his follower holding the egg.

It seemed to stare back at me as it came forward, slowly relaxing so I could reach the egg, with green spots all over it.

As I grabbed the egg, I felt it tremble in my arms for a moment, but I ignored it for now.

My partner stared at me as I nodded to him; we had the egg. We had saved this poor Pokémon, no matter what kind or type it was.

**Kellyn**

When I watched Eden secure the egg, I turned back to the leader.

"Give Eden her bag back, as well."

I don't know what I said wrong or what I had done, but the Metagross suddenly veered away from me and began to stare at my partner, who was caressing the egg for some reason.

"_Meta…"_

The leader charged at my partner; the most powerful Takedown I've ever seen.

"Eden! Get the hell out of the way!" I warned her as I charged toward her as well, trying to beat the angry Metagross to my partner.

I had been closer to her in the first place, so I jumped in front of my shocked comrade and took the hit instead, without even thinking about it.

A single rib cracked, I could feel it, as I hit the ground near Eden. My vision began to go black as the pain set in.

My eyes shot back open when I heard something unusual:

"_Kellyn!"_ An all-too-familiar voice tore through my mind.

"_Who is it…?"_ Even though I knew exactly who it was. Rosalie. I could hear her talking to me.

"Get up, you idiot!" Eden wrenched my shoulder, jerking me literally back to life. Her light green eyes bore into mine as she stared at me.

"Are you… are you okay?!"

"_It wasn't Rosalie… it was Eden…"_

I stared at Eden for a moment, then shot up, ignoring my obviously cracked rib.

Holding out my capture styler in front of me, I stood up slowly, hearing Pachirisu squeak worriedly as I felt almost a little wobbly on my feet.

"Capture… On!" I was panting in an effort to stay on my feet, despite the pain. "Eden,"

Glancing behind me, I could see her wide, green eyes staring back at me.

"Watch… closely."

Not only will we finally get a move on, I could show Eden how a Top Ranger handles their styler.

My styler clicked immediately, and I proceeded to capture all of the Metagross at once.

Even though, it hurt to do it, I wove my arm around in the air and felt my feelings of friendship transfer to the Metagross.

**Eden**

Even though my partner was obviously in pain, he stood up and began to capture the pack of Metagross.

Not to mention all at the same time.

Pachirisu was clinging to his partner's leg, but didn't even utter a cry of concern or anything.

"_I wish I had a partner Pokémon like that… I wish I had one at all."_

My eyes wandered to the egg in my arms. Again, I felt it wiggle. It was almost like a quick pulse; like I was holding a living, breathing, being.

"_What type of Pokémon is in here anyway? Maybe another Beldum?"_

My thoughts were interrupted as Kellyn stopped and muttered to himself: "Capture complete."

I stood up on impulse, and all of the Metagross had an almost-happy expression on their faces.

"Give Eden her bag back."

Kellyn sighed as the Beldum who had taken my stuff came back over with it around its neck and allowed me to slowly remove it.

"Thank you!" I smiled to the Pokémon, and it seemed to smile back at me while closing its one eye and navigating back into the pack.

My partner stared back at all of the Metagross and grabbed my jacket.

"Start walking while I release them. Then we can get to a Pokémon Center, drop off the egg, and be on our way before we're late."

I stared at my new partner as he motioned for me to go. Picking up my bag, I grabbed Pachirisu and hurried out of the area back onto the beaten path.

As I let him down, Pachirisu looked back for a split moment, but didn't move from his spot near my feet.

"_He… wants me to give up the egg… but…"_

I felt it move in my arms again as I hugged it tighter.

In my mind, I knew this from the moment I had seen the whole deal unfold.

The egg and I were meant to be together.

**Kellyn**

As Eden walked out of the way, I felt the pain set in and I groaned for a moment, but managed to release the Metagross without another problem.

They only blinked at me, a couple of them grinned, but they all walked deeper into the forest, toward a hilly-looking area.

I could barely feel my feet moving anymore; it felt like the weight of the whole world was on my shoulders from how heavy they seemed.

My feet seemed to almost glide on the ground as they dragged through grass and dirt, but I soon reached the beaten path where my new partner was waiting.

Eden.

"_If Eden was there… how did I hear Rosalie's voice?"_

The question stuck with me as I inched closer and closer to Eden, feeling my consciousness beginning to slip, but I held on feebly.

This mission was more important than my weariness at the moment.

* * *

Oh yeah, this chapter was _really _rough ._. Personally, I didn't like it that much.

3 reviews! Oh yeah :3 Thankx ya ! (Even tho they're all from one person~)

Also, I DID get around to revamping chapter one so more people get past that one and read this one! :)

Rate/Review/Favorite/Alert… I need a kewl acronym for that. RARF. No… FARR… eww… Arrf LOL I LIKE IT.

ARRF~


	7. The Unanswered Question

_Flashback:_

_Eden._

"_If Eden was there… how did I hear Rosalie's voice?"_

_The question stuck with me as I inched closer and closer to Eden, feeling my consciousness beginning to slip, but I held on feebly._

_This mission was more important than my weariness at the moment._

Chapter 7: The Unanswered Question

**Eden**

I watched my partner walk toward me, even though I could tell he couldn't concentrate.

"Kellyn," I said, watching his distracted eyes bore into me.

He seemed to snap out of his daze as he tried to stand up straight.

"Let's go. We've wasted enough time already."

Kellyn looked like he sucked his pain up as he focused on walking beside me, and after a few steps it seemed like he had never even gotten injured.

The egg twitched in my arms yet again, and immediately I stopped and rubbed it, trying to calm it down.

"_How do I ask him if I can keep it? Will he ever understand how much I want to have a partner?"_

I dared to so much as glance up at my partner, and he was glaring down at me.

"There's a Pokémon Center in Hia Valley. We'll be able to give that egg a home there."

My mouth dropped open as I stopped.

"Um! I want to keep the egg as my partner!"

Kellyn stopped immediately and turned back to me, his eyes wide. The exchanged only took a moment as he slowly turned around, flinching noticeably.

"We'll talk more about it when we _get_ there."

Without another word, he sped up his pace as he hurried to a more open area in the middle of the forest.

**Kellyn**

The pain I was feeling was only worsening the longer Eden and I kept walking, but I didn't care about that. It was the last thing I even gave a shit about.

I was still concerned about how/why Eden had sounded just like Rosalie to me. Their voices aren't even close to being alike.

"_Am I just… thinking about Rosalie a lot to the point where I think everything is Rosalie? I mean, it's not impossible."_

Though, I looked back at my new partner and I could see her holding the egg close to her body, almost like a mother and a newborn baby.

"Eden," I muttered, almost to the point where I questioned if she had heard me. "Why do you want to keep the egg anyway? Don't you know how much extra work that is going to be? You'll probably want an incubator and you won't ever want to leave the thing alone."

Her light green eyes sent a chill through my veins as she glared at me.

"Kellyn, you don't understand. I would take care of the Pokémon inside this egg with every bit of strength I have."

Eden's hold on the egg got immediately tighter as she finished speaking to me.

"…Alright, fine, keep it for now, but if you're sure we don't need to go to a Pokémon Center before we leave, then grab your styler and catch a Staraptor. They're straight ahead, I believe."

I spotted the flying-type Pokémon just as I had said, flying around aimlessly, as if they were bored.

Eden's face immediately lit up as she carefully walked toward me.

"Can you hold this really quick? If it shivers, hold it closer."

Without even waiting for my response, she hurried toward the sunny field, latching her styler onto her wrist and aiming it at an unsuspecting Staraptor.

"_She sounds like a concerned mother with the way she's ordering me how to take care of this damned egg."_

I glared down at it and it seemed to shiver, just as my partner had said. Pachirisu crawled up my arm and began pawing at Eden's egg.

He looked up at me and tilted his head in a confused manner.

"I don't understand either," I muttered, holding the egg closer as Eden instructed me.

It twitched in my arms to the point that I wondered if the Pokémon inside was going to jump out and start attacking me.

"Capture complete!" I heard Eden shout from in front of me as she rushed toward me with her newly-caught Staraptor.

"Did I do it right?" She asked me as she got closer to me.

"Uh, sorry, I missed it. Doesn't look like you had too much trouble handling it yourself, so you couldn't have done it wrong."

Eden smiled brightly at me and held her arms out for her egg. To be honest, I was a little reluctant to give the little baby Pokémon up as I handed it to her.

I almost could feel a legitimate pulse coming from that egg, as if it was close to hatching.

"_I hope the Metagross didn't harm it by throwing it around… if it comes out injured or dead I don't know how Eden is going to handle it."_

It was definitely a fear of mine. I had had plenty of experience with injured Pokémon that we had to just put out of their misery and stop their suffering. I even had to do it once, too. To make it worse, it was a little baby Flaaffy who had been injured during an incident with a Golem.

Trying to shake the thought out of my head, I watched Eden cradle it in her arms and hold it close for several full seconds as I watched it visibly shake in her arms often.

"…Are you going to catch a Staraptor, too?" Eden's eyebrows shot up as I realized I had been slacking off.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure."

**Eden **

I watched Kellyn and his Pachirisu hurry toward one of the strong-looking Pokémon as I held the egg in my arms again.

"_There is no way he'd make me give the egg up… right?"_

My thoughts clouded up as I watched him make his capture within 10 seconds, which was stellar compared to my damn near 45 second capture.

His head hung as he walked back over to where I was standing, and that's where I understood what was up.

Glancing down at his chest, I could see where the dent was in his body where he had at least cracked a rib.

"_He needs to get to a place with medical attention…"_

I don't know why I was so worried as I ran up to him.

"Kellyn! Are you okay?!" I let panic into my voice, and I don't know why. I didn't want him to think I was weak as a person and as a partner.

My partner glared down at me as he shook his head and mounted onto his Staraptor.

"I'll be fine. Get on yours and don't drop your egg."

I couldn't get past the irritation in his voice as he sighed.

"Is… is anything bothering you?"

My shyness was starting to come back into my voice. _"Great, another thing I gotta worry about."_

As he stared back at me, I watched Pachirisu chuckle almost as I shuddered, trying not to imagine what kind of pain he was going through at that moment.

"No, I'm fine. Hurry up; we don't have time to waste. How many times do I have to tell you that, Eden?"

Ignoring the scorn in his voice, I concentrated on his words.

"I'm coming. You don't have to sound like my mom."

I smirked when I heard him sigh as I laughed my Staraptor and I into the air, holding onto my egg tightly.

**Kellyn**

Watching Eden fly up high, I mimicked her as she called me out on sounding like her mom. That wasn't what I was focused on, though.

As we took flight higher than the treetops, Pachirisu found his way back into the little nook I had made into my jacket.

Snickering as softly as I could at my little partner's fear of heights, I looked over at Eden and could see the slight fear in her eyes.

"Um… how long will it take to get there, Kellyn…?" Her voice was sharp and quiet as she drew in her breath, worriedly.

"Not long, with these Staraptor, two hours at most." I felt my voice waver for a moment as I tried not to pounce all over the question.

Gulping, I started as our Staraptor glided forward, setting the pace for the journey. "Um… Eden, mind if I ask you something?"

Now _I_ was starting to sound like her, with her quivering everything when she spoke because she is practically terrified of _everything,_ and that really pissed me off for about half a second until she answered me:

"Yeah, of course you can."

I drew in a deep breath as I glanced at her.

"Did… did you ever know Rosalie? Back in Fiore?"

As embarrassing a question as it was, I had to ask. The two of them reminded me of the other, even if they're basically opposites of each other.

Eden stared back at me, holding onto her egg.

"Um, no, I don't think I did. I don't think I'd even heard of her until they mentioned her yesterday."

My heart sank as I heard Eden hadn't even met Rosalie. I felt as though I needed to tell my partner anything and everything about my former partner.

"She, uh… you remind me of her a bit, actually." There was no way to say it in a way that wasn't awkward and out of place as hell, so I just let it out.

Eden's smile broadened as she looked me in the eyes.

"Really? From what our base-mates were saying last night, she seemed like a nice person, so I'm glad."

My chest made this weird twitching feeling as I thought about Rosalie.

"_Nice my ass. Rosalie was mean as hell; almost like Satan or something. On boring days, she'd pull pranks or just plain screw with other people, but Eden is nothing like her. If that's the case, then how the fuck does she remind me of her so much?"_

Staring at Eden was almost like being on a mission with Rosalie again, except Eden was quiet and considerate of other people's feelings. Not only that, but she was also shy to the point of absolute fear when it came to confronting others.

Sighing, I glanced ahead into the distance, and I could see a large amount of mountains in a nearly circle formation miles ahead of us, and I thought about our destination.

"_I hope this mission won't get out of hand… I want it to go stellar, that way Hastings will give us more missions and we won't be stuck around doing nothing."_

Just the thought of it made me smile as I glanced at Eden again. Her eyes were closed as the rising sun hit both our faces.

"Good morning, Kellyn."

Her smiling face stuck with me as her Staraptor suddenly pulled ahead of mine.

"_How does she manage to make me think she's Rosalie when she's nothing like her?"_

* * *

Okay, yeah, busted ass on this chapter even though it's not even good. I:

Check out my profile for a link to my fictionpress account so you can check out my works there~

Whoooooo, SUMMER IS HERE~ I'll be posting a lot more often now ^_^

ARRF~


	8. Welcome to Shiver Camp!

_Flashback:_

_Just the thought of it made me smile as I glanced at Eden again. Her eyes were closed as the rising sun hit both our faces._

"_Good morning, Kellyn."_

_Her smiling face stuck with me as her Staraptor suddenly pulled ahead of mine._

"_How does she manage to make me think she's Rosalie when she's nothing like her?"_

Chapter 8: Welcome to Shiver Camp!

**Eden**

I was confused as to Kellyn's completely random question that he had asked me.

"_Where did Rosalie come from any of that…?"_

Honestly, Kellyn had seemed almost embarrassed to ask me what he did.

The questions in my mind as to why my new partner had been asking whatever was on his mind faded away as I spotted a small campfire in the snowy mountainous area we were flying over.

"C'mon, Eden. That's Murph's dad waving us down."

He sharply steered his Staraptor down to the fire. I followed suit easily as I held onto the egg as tightly as I could manage.

My partner and I hit the ground almost simultaneously as we sent our Staraptor back to where we had caught them.

"Hey, Murph's dad."

Kellyn greeted the man in front of us with a coat very awkwardly, as if he had no idea how to address him.

"From the looks of it, you two are Top Rangers at the Ranger Union where little Murphy works, right?"

I almost snickered at what his dad called him, even though I still had _no_ idea who Murph was.

We both nodded, answering his question, and he motioned for us to follow him beyond a couple of large, stray boulders.

"Well, this is the safest and most enclosed area to set up a camp in so far, but our main goal is to research all types of Pokémon that live out here. We haven't gotten much done, though; all of the little ones are hiding from the supposed blizzard we're supposed to have tomorrow night. Heard it's going to be pretty bad, I'm glad you two got in when you did."

I opened my mouth to speak, but my partner cut me off without even realizing it.

"Where will we be staying?" He asked him, sticking his hands into his pockets briefly as this man took a moment to answer.

"Well, we'll get you two checked in and try to start tomorrow morning before the blizzard hits, if that's alright with you two."

I nodded along with my partner as the egg shivered in my arms. I held it closely on impulse as a cold breeze blew by.

Glancing at Kellyn, I couldn't help but wonder if he was cold or not. My fingers were already frozen and it was the first ten minutes we'd been in these temperatures.

"Come on, you two. Especially you," Murph's dad glanced at me before smiling. "You look frozen, and that egg of yours needs as much warmth as it can get."

Nodding, he revealed to us that, behind these stray boulders, was an entire camp full of researchers and scientists. The settlements they appeared to live in were igloos, huge ones, made of pure snow and ice blocks from the mountains.

Immediately, I spotted a medical igloo for both people and Pokémon, but before I could call attention to my partner, we were ushered to a huge igloo, bigger than all of the rest of them.

"This here is what we call the Master Igloo. Excuse the lame name, it just stuck after some of us kept using the term over and over again. Basically, if you have any problems or anything you want to take up, just come here and explain to the people at those desks."

He pointed out the smart-looking people behind the desks and started toward a friendly looking woman in a thick coat.

"Hey, Carla, can you see if we have two extra igloos for these two? They're the Rangers we asked for."

So-called Carla had a smile plastered to her face, but at this point I wasn't sure if it was out of habit or if it was frozen on as she grabbed a small notebook.

"I'll check to see if there are any open."

In the spare moment that we had to wait for her to come to a consensus, I felt my egg shiver violently as I prayed to Arceus that she'd hurry up.

"Um," her secretary-like voice distracted me from my egg. "We only have one igloo open at the moment. Do you two mind if you have to share one?"

Inwardly, I sighed, but Kellyn and I both shook our heads as she booked us in.

"Everything you'll need should be inside. Here's the key to your door… and a spare just in case," Carla handed Kellyn two tiny faded blue keys as she smiled to us.

"Gather good research!"

Murph's dad smirked. "Thanks, Carla."

As we left the igloo, Murph's dad ushered us toward our igloo; ours was close to the end of the boulders, but in a spot where we wouldn't get ambushed or anything.

"Alright, well, I'll knock in the morning; we could all do with some rest. I can't tell night from day recently; the sky has been dark 24/7 here."

Shivering, I remembered how before we went underneath the clouds, it had been the crack of dawn.

"Um," I tried to speak up as much as I could. "My… my partner needs some medical attention, if that's possible to be able to get h-here."

I could feel Kellyn's angry gaze setting into my face as Murph's dad stopped and tilted his head.

"Why? It doesn't seem like anything is the matter with him at the moment."

Kellyn lifted up his undershirt reluctantly. "I was hit by a take-down attack by a Metagross on the way here, and I think it cracked one of my ribs."

The man's eyes widened considerably. "I don't know you could carry on after that! I'll get you there as soon as possible. Do you want to come, too?"

He had turned to me as I shivered; thinking of all the pain Kellyn was it at the moment. "Yes, of course…"

**Kellyn**

As I was involuntarily helped back to the medical igloo, I glanced at my partner. She was stroking her egg as if petting a Pokémon.

"_Why would that be the only thing on her mind? If it was bothering me, then I'd have brought it up myself. Also, the coldness is actually starting to help it a bit. It's numb so it doesn't hurt nearly as much."_

Pachirisu nervously squirmed in my jacket as I walked into the warm medical igloo.

Turning around for a moment, I could see Eden preparing to follow me in, but a nurse-looking-scientist stopped her.

"You're not allowed to go past this line."

Pointing at a dotted white line on the ground, Eden's light green eyes lit up with fire.

"He's my partner; you're not leaving me out here without him."

The fierceness in my brand new partner's eyes had honestly taken me back as I raised my eyebrow.

"_Maybe Eden has more of a backbone than I thought."_

The thought made me smirk as I heard the beginnings of an argument start between Eden and the nurse.

"No, she can come back here. I mean, she's my partner; I don't mind it." I spoke up in Eden's defense immediately without even thinking about it when the chances of her being able to follow me back slimmed.

The nurse bit her lip as if she wasn't quite sure if she should allow Eden back with me. Suddenly sighing, the nurse stepped back.

"Alright, fine. Just this once."

Eden's face immediately lit up as she caught up with me and we proceeded into one of the back rooms.

**Eden**

I watched Kellyn sit down in a chair as a different nurse came by and sat down in a chair facing him. Grabbing another chair, I sat down next to him as my egg shivered yet again.

"Okay, what seems to be the problem?"

My partner shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I fractured a rib and I have to work so resting is definitely not an option."

Pachirisu scurried over to my lap and sat down in front of my egg, holding its tail as Kellyn shrugged off his Ranger uniform and lifted up his undershirt to reveal a dark purple bruise.

My eyes widened immediately as he put his shirt back down and the nurse shook her head as she began asking questions.

"Does it hurt to breathe deeply?" "Yes."

"Does it feel as though the rib is poking into something?" "No…"

As this nurse, her nametag identified her as Sherri, kept asking my partner questions about his health, I started to worry.

"_What if he needs to do a lot of healing and can't do his job?! I mean, he DID take the hit for me, so that means we're a little step to becoming partners… we can't lose that now! Not only that, but we've got a mission to handle!"_

I began stroking Pachirisu, who didn't even seem the slightest bit worried about our partner. I'm not sure if it was a sign or not, but Sherri suddenly stood up.

"If it's alright with you, I would like to get in an x-ray just to make sure nothing is broken."

Kellyn stood up to follow Sherri to a different room, and he turned to me.

"You're staying here?" His eyebrows rose as he stopped, and he seemed almost unsure if I should go with him or not.

"Unless you _want_ me to go with you, I can stay here."

My voice was more quiet than normal as Pachirisu jumped off of my lap and onto Kellyn's shoulder.

Kellyn's blue eyes bore into me as he shook his head. "Okay, well… I'll be back."

The door shut behind him as I was left to my own thoughts and my egg as I rubbed it, trying to get it to stop shaking.

"_Is… he starting to think of me as a partner… finally?"_

**Kellyn**

As I walked to the x-ray room with Sherri, she turned to me, smiling.

"Is that girl your partner?"

Nodding, I looked away for a moment. "Yeah."

Sherri turned away and I could hear her laugh for a minute as she opened the door to the x-rays:

"She must care about you a lot to draw attention to your wound like that."

I didn't even gratify that with a response as I walked into the dark room.

**Eden**

Throughout every minute of waiting for them to get back with results, my legs began shaking.

"I'm so not dressed for this weather," I whispered to the egg in my arms. "And I don't think you are either."

Ignoring the fact that I knew I was going insane by talking to a freaking egg, I sighed and kept conversing anyway.

"I know you probably won't answer me back, but… I think Kellyn is actually starting to see me as a partner! I don't know what I'm doing right, but it's definitely working!"

The excitement in my voice came out as my egg started squirming but stopped as my excitement died down.

"What kind of Pokémon are you, anyway? If you're a Beldum I might just have to cry…"

I shuddered as I thought about Metagross. Not only were they the scariest Pokémon in the world next to Steelix and Rayquaza, but they had nearly injured me and _did_ injure my partner.

Without a response, my heart sank. "I'll teach you not to hurt people, though. I promise. Hopefully, though, Kellyn will let me keep you. I helped save you… and I want a bond with a Pokémon so badly, I'd do anything to have one. Like my brother."

I had been distracted as hell… in fact, I had been so distracted, I hadn't even thought of Tripp or Gallade since I left the base.

"Maybe you'll get to meet him! I mean, he's a bit hotheaded and all that, but other than that, he loves Pokémon as much as all Rangers and would do anything for them! His Gallade, or his partner, is the sweetest thing I've ever met!"

As I finished that sentence, the egg seemed to shiver slightly as a breeze suddenly came through the door. Holding it closer, I looked up to see my partner walking toward me.

Sherri was right behind him with some pictures as she nodded, smiling.

"Looks like nothing is broken… and believe it or not, nothing is fractured either. It's just a major bruise. My only recommendation is that you take pain pills whenever it begins to bother you… and make sure another Metagross doesn't use take-down on you."

Pachirisu jumped onto my shoulder as it poked at the egg. I tried to swat him away but he refused to get off of me out of curiosity.

Kellyn glanced at me. "Ready to get ready for tomorrow…?"

Nodding, I stood up. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Sherri," I smiled as I locked eyes with the nurse, and she smiled back. "No problem. Make sure he comes back here if he gets hurt again."

My eyes sharpened as I muttered, "I can't help it…"

Sherri laughed at me as she opened the door for both of us to leave. "Good luck researching tomorrow! Get back before the blizzard hits!"

Kellyn turned to her and nodded. "I'll make sure we do."

Without pausing, he walked out of the igloo and headed toward ours… it was even beginning to look dark outside even though it must have been noon.

Sherri's eyes bore into me as I turned to her. "Thanks for everything." She smiled again. "He really seems to see you as a partner."

Not sure if she was sarcastic or not, I nodded and smiled back. "Oh, thank you," And made sure to follow Kellyn as fast as possible before he locked me out of our igloo.

As I caught up to him, it had just begun to snow and my shoes sank into the white ground.

I began shivering as he looked back at me.

"I don't know if I've said this to you yet, but thanks."

"_There's his matter-of-fact tone again…"_ I huffed to myself, and, without even bothering to ask what he was thanking me for, I smiled. "We're partners, so I'll do whatever I can to help."

His blue eyes were unreadable as he stared at me. It wasn't one of his normal unreadable stares, either. Those eyes were not blank or spacy.

Memories danced through his eyes as he stared at me.

**Kellyn**

It must have been just me. It had to have been my stupid brain reminding me how Rosalie treated me after we became 'friends'.

She treated me like I mattered, like I wasn't a nuisance or an idiot.

Eden has treated me like I was her partner, someone she could depend on, since the moment we set out on this mission.

"_I had better start trying to treat her like she's MY partner, too. I promised Rosalie… I promised myself I'd make an effort to at least treat her like we're partners."_

My memories of Rosalie flew through my mind. All of them at once, and I shook my head to clear it as all of the snow and the igloos registered around me again.

"Kellyn…?"

Eden was staring at me, looking concerned as my Pachirisu twitched on her shoulder, clearly understanding what had just happened to me.

"Let's go, sorry." My voice sounded hoarse to me, just another side-effect of thinking about my former partner.

"_Damn it,"_ I thought as I trudged along, slowing to Eden's concentrated speed, which seemed slow motion to me.

"_Why am I suddenly letting myself think about her… even though I told myself I'd never think about her again?"_

Unconsciously, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a blue key and stuck it out in front of me. My hand opened a door, and warm air hit my face, waking me up.

I had unlocked the door to the igloo and Eden shut the door behind us. Setting down my bag simultaneously with Eden, I looked around.

The igloo had a cozy look to it; the rooms were small but had essential items in it.

The kitchen had corny blue wallpaper on the walls and basic appliances, probably stocked with food.

The bedroom, which I could see from where I was standing, had gray wallpaper and a single bed.

"We're _not_ sharing it," Eden practically read my mind. "You can have it because of your injury. The carpet floor actually looks quite comfortable."

I shook my head immediately, taking off my Ranger jacket. "Eden, _you_ can have it. Just because I have a bruise does not make me handicapped."

Her light green eyes went fierce on me again. "Then we can both sleep on the floor, because I am _not_ sleeping in it."

Smirking, I sighed. "Fine."

My partner immediately smiled and went for the closet, finding a couple of heavy fur coats.

"Guess we can use these for tomorrow. Thank Arceus, I'm freezing just standing out there."

The egg in Eden's arms twitched visibly as I sighed. "I'm exhausted with everything that happened today, and it's only probably one o'clock."

It was dark outside as I glanced out the one window we had and drew the blinds and turned on the lights.

Then, I flopped onto one of the two couches in the living room; in front of the T.V. "We had better call the Ranger Union and talk to our base-mates so they know we're not dead."

Eden tilted her head slightly as she held her egg closer. "How?"

I pressed the call button on my styler and the screen popped up.

"I wonder who is gonna answer…"

After the third ring, it was received and Ben was on the line, eating fries.

"AYE!" Ben seemed to spaz as he realized it was us. "Having fun in below zero temps, Kells?"

Shaking my head, I sighed. "Eden and I just wanted to call in to say we're not dead, alright?"

Ben's eyes widened and smirked. "Well, of course you're not. Lemme see your new partner, I wanna make sure you haven't pulled her hair out yet."

Turning the screen to Eden, she smiled and waved, slightly hiding behind her egg.

"Hey, Eden! Kellyn hasn't yelled at you again, has he?" My partner smiled politely and shook her head.

He smiled again, popping a fry into his mouth. "Alright, well, I'll get word to the others that you haven't died yet, and I'm sure you two will come back all buddy-buddy from your mission. See ya!"

I hung up on him as fast as I could.

"There's another camera call over there," I glanced at the small area between the kitchen and where we were sitting to a small T.V.-looking box.

"You'll have to link your styler up to it to get the Ranger Union's number, but that's how you'd do it."

Then, I glanced at my partner, who looked as though she hadn't even heard me.

"You tired yet…?" Shaking her head no, she yawned, contradicting herself immediately.

She stood up and stretched, letting Pachirisu settle himself on my shoulder now. "I'm gonna go lay on the floor. Take a nap whenever you're ready."

With that, she disappeared into the bedroom.

**Eden**

I sat down on the floor, holding my egg close to me, grabbing a spare blanket from the bed, which was literally layered with five of them.

"I'm pretty sure you need this more than I do," I whispered, wrapping the blanket around the egg as tightly as I could.

The shivering it had been doing periodically had ceased as I smiled. "Okay, I'm going to take a short nap."

For a moment, I couldn't fall asleep, but I closed my eyes for a moment, and I felt myself fall into a shallow darkness.

**Kellyn**

As I let Eden go take a nap, for a minute I laid on the couch, then decided I should go take a nap as well, if I wanted to be rested up.

"Let's go to bed, Pachirisu."

After taking a moment to feed the little one, I headed into the small bedroom and closed the door.

Eden was snuggled into a ball around her egg on the floor, her egg wrapped around a blanket and sleeping soundly.

My eyebrows rose at how dedicated she was about keeping her egg warm and happy.

"_No wonder she didn't want an incubator. She wants to take care of it legitimately, not artificially."_

The realization hit me as I slowly bent down to pick up my sleeping partner without waking her.

Tucking her into the bed, I smiled, picking up her egg and snuggling it under her arm.

"You deserve the bed more than I do." I heard myself whisper as I settled down on the ground at the foot of the bed.

Part of my brain was asking me why the hell I did what I did, and the other was asking me why the hell I had just thought of Rosalie at the same time.

"_I'll try to treat her like a partner, I promise."_

Pachirisu sat on my head, covering my eyes up and falling asleep, but that was the last thing I remembered as I fell into the darkness of memory lane.

**Eden**

After what must have been only a moment of sleep, I opened my eyes slightly, feeling the floor beneath me feel like a mattress.

That threw me off as I lifted my head and saw my partner sleeping soundly on the floor with Pachirisu over his eyes.

My cheeks flared with the fire of a familiar blush as I smiled.

"_He does think about me… even though he should get to sleep in the bed, he didn't care about that…"_

Slowly putting my head on the pillow, I felt a smile light up my cheeks.

"_I think it's safe to say we're partners now."_

* * *

Oh damn, it only took me a day to do this chapter. Summer is here people, told ya.

This one is a lot of words (3.7k) and I'm proud of it. Hope I get more readers.

Been working on this one all day. Hope ya like it.

AARF~


	9. What Kind of Pokémon Are You?

_Flashback:_

_Slowly putting my head on the pillow, I felt a smile light up my cheeks._

"_I think it's safe to say we're partners now."_

Chapter 9: What Kind of Pokémon Are You?

**Eden**

Blinking, I woke up to the darkness of an oncoming storm.

My egg seemed nice and cozy snuggled inside a blanket next to me on the bed. I smiled at it for a moment.

Stretching, I jumped out of bed, careful to avoid stepping on my partner.

His Pachirisu jumped off of his head and I froze, thinking he was going to wake up before I could make breakfast.

He only sighed in his sleep and his hand twitched for a moment before resuming like nothing had ever happened.

I tiptoed out of the bedroom and made my way over to the camera call.

Plugging my styler into it, I made a call to the Ranger Union.

I only had to wait a few seconds for someone to answer.

"_I hope it's one of the girls… they need to know about my progress by getting him to think of me as a partner!"_

Almost immediately after my thought faded, Summer picked up. She was already in her uniform, which must have meant that it was somewhere around ten o'clock to noon.

"Ohmygosh! Hi, Eden!"

Summer smiled brightly at me as I smiled back, smoothing my hair down. "Hey, Summer! So, how are things going at the base?"

Her smile dwindled a bit as she glanced behind her.

"Well," Summer's voice dropped down to a whisper. "I'm not really sure. Keith and Kate have been acting really strange, but whenever the rest of us ask about it we get snapped at."

My eyebrows went up as I tilted my head.

"Did they have some sort of falling out or something?"

Summer nodded. "I would think so, but whenever either one of them steps into the room it just becomes super… awkward. Other than that, though, everything is great. Your brother is _stellar_ at making captures. He's already made a fool out of Lunick."

Although my brother had always been at the top of the class with his captures, I didn't expect him to be a total noob now that he had become a Top Ranger, but to beat Lunick…

"Really? How so?!"

Summer chuckled a bit. "Well, let's just say Tripp is now teaching Lunick how to make a nice, clean capture."

The very thought of that was enough to make me begin to laugh, but I stopped myself when I remembered my partner was still asleep.

"Alright, Summer. I gotta make Kellyn and I breakfast. We're finally getting onto the same page."

Summer's eyes widened substantially as the thought must have sunk in. "Really?! How? What'd you do?!"

Sighing, I told her about the incident with the Metagross and how he asked me about Rosalie and how he took the hit for me and how when we got out to Hia Valley when I felt like we were really partners.

She was attentive throughout the entire explanation, and when I was done Summer looked as though she was about to burst.

"Woah! I've never heard of such a thing! That's insane!"

I was literally shaking in my seat, too. "I know… I just can't believe I might be good enough to actually become his partner… but, yeah, sorry for being sidetracked, I gotta make us breakfast! Bye Summer, talk to ya later, tell the girls about it."

She laughed and smiled. "They'll be glad to hear it. Bye!"

The camera call clicked off as I stood up to walk to the kitchen, but I froze when I saw two soft eyes staring at me from the bedroom door.

I locked eyes with it, my mind racing. _"It CAN'T be Kellyn, his eyes aren't like that… Pachirisu? Pachirisu doesn't have brown eyes…"_

My heart began beating out of control like hell; if it wasn't those two, then what the hell was it?

"Vee!"

Before I could blink, the Pokémon dashed toward me, jumping onto my chest, making me spaz and fall backward with a loud thud.

Without another thought, thinking my life was over, I let out a scream at the top of my lungs.

**Kellyn**

A loud scream woke me up and I immediately thought of Eden.

I jumped up off of the floor and flew to the door.

"What? Stop screaming!"

I spotted Eden writhing on the floor underneath a Pokémon that was jumping all over her, sniffing her hair and pawing at her innocently.

"Eden, it's not attacking you, stop freaking out…"

It was so dark in the room; I couldn't see what kind of Pokémon was on top of my partner, so I hurried over to the light and turned it on.

**Eden**

I was squirming like hell as I felt a furry paw poke at me every second, every time in a different place.

When the lights popped on, I was staring face-to-face with an Eevee.

Its eyes widened and it smiled immediately. "Vee!"

The Eevee jumped off of me as I sat up to stare at it.

"An Eevee… looks like a girl, too, the way it's acting." My partner crossed his arms across his chest in the normal matter-of-fact manner he had.

I nodded as the Eevee suddenly turned to him and pounced onto his leg, finding a way to crawl up to his shoulder and rub her head against his cheek.

"Vee!"

My hands froze halfway up to my face as I stared at the small Pokémon.

"_An Eevee…"_

She must have seen me move, because she jumped down from Kellyn's shoulder and into my lap.

Pachirisu seemed to hurry over when he heard unfamiliar cries.

He stopped when he got to Kellyn's leg and twitched his little tail.

The Eevee tilted her head and walked toward Kellyn's partner, her nose twitching.

"Vee?" "Pachi."

I smiled when I saw that they were introducing themselves to each other.

Looking up at my partner, I watched his eyes flicker over to mine.

"Eden… do you want Eevee to become your partner Pokémon?"

My entire body seemed to convulse as I thought about it.

"_This is what you've always wanted."_ My thoughts wandered as I stared at the Eevee in front of me.

"Vee!"

I stared at the little creature in front of me. "Eevee, do you wanna be my partner?"

The baby Pokémon pranced around my feet as it seemed to sing in its language.

"Eeevveeee!~"

I felt myself go into auto-pilot as I picked her up. "Hey… do you mind if I give you a nickname? Vee?"

Eevee smiled at her new name and squirmed in my arms happily.

Kellyn's Pachirisu smiled and made a friendly spark as he ran around Kellyn's legs.

"Kellyn!" I called to my partner, holding Vee to my chest.

He was already staring at me as he crossed his arms over his chest again. "Well, whatever time it is, I hope they come get us soon."

Just by his demeanor, I could tell how he was itching to get going with the research we would be doing during the remainder of the trip.

Vee squirmed out of my arms and jumped into his, rubbing her face against his.

Laughing, I shook my head. "I think Vee thinks you're her daddy."

Kellyn gave me one of his 'don't push it' looks and shook his head, not saying anything.

**Kellyn**

As I pried Eden's partner Vee off of my face, I could see the joy in her eyes.

"_She really did want a partner… I think they'll do just fine together."_

Pachirisu scratched at my leg, asking for his food, and when I bent down to feed him, Eden suddenly went into a panic.

"I was so busy talking to Summer that I forgot to start breakfast!"

Groaning angrily, she rushed into the small kitchen and grabbed the apron, pots, and the pans with much haste and began searching through the fridge.

"What do ya want for breakfast, Kellyn?"

Looking over, I could see that she was staring at me.

"I would like to have some toast, if that's okay with you."

Eden turned to me, smiling. "I was thinking the same."

As Vee jumped away from me and rushed into the kitchen with Eden, I settled down on the couch as a thump came from the door.

As I got up to investigate, I figured out that it was a newspaper.

Smiling as I thought of my newspaper collection back home, I made sure to wash my hands before going to pick it up.

When I did, the front page read, loud and clear:

"_**Top Rangers: Heroes in Our Eyes." **_

The title immediately grabbed me as I sat down on the couch, Pachirisu settling himself beside me as I read the subtitle.

"_An interview with Almia's finest; Ben Natsuya, Kate Hitomi-Hajime, and new Top Ranger Tripp Nakai!"_

My eyebrows flew up in interest. An interview with Ben would have been a whole lot of "Aye," and "Ya know," so I wasn't going to bother to read his section.

Skipping to my sister Kate's segment, I began reading.

"_So, Kate Hitomi-Hajime, how do you feel about helping people as a Top Ranger?"_

"_Well," Kate had paused and let out a small chuckle. "Being a Top Ranger is great. I get to meet a lot of people that I would have otherwise thought of as just people and I would have never gotten to know them the way I do."_

I felt myself smirk while reading. Of_ course_ my sister would talk about meeting _people_. Our job was to help _Pokémon_.

Before I could inwardly moan about how much I wished I could have been there for the interview, whenever it had happened, Eden approached me with a plate in both hands. Her shadow darkened my vision as she stood next to me.

"Here you go, Kellyn. Eat up, we've got a big day ahead of us, I think."

Vee was running around her feet as she jumped up and sat on my shoulder just as Pachirisu made his own 'nest' of sorts in my hair.

Without wanting to read another incorrectly answered question by my sister, I skipped to Eden's brother's section.

"_Trip Nakai, this is your, what? Second day of being a new Top Ranger? How is it different from being an Area Ranger?"_

"_I'm not treated as a swabbie 24/7, that's one thing." Was the only answer Mr. Nakai would give us for the question."_

Shaking my head with a smirk, I folded the paper as neatly as possible before I turned to see Eden standing near me, nibbling on a piece of toast.

"My brother making dumb responses as usual?"

I stood up and stretched for a moment. "I wouldn't say dumb, but… uneducated, yeah."

Vee suddenly jumped off of me and back into Eden's arms. "Hey Vee, are you ready to go into the snow? I'd like to see what moves you know…"

Vee squirmed in her arms happily, making her eyes light up immediately as she ran outside.

Shaking my head, I glanced at Pachirisu and muttered: "Let's go."

Finishing my toast as fast as I could, I ran to the bathroom to clean myself up and brush my hair back to the way it was and made my way outside with Eden and Vee.

My insane partner was sitting down, in the _snow,_ coaxing Vee.

"Okay, so what moves do you know?"

Vee ran in circles and jumped on her head playfully, as if she was ignoring Eden.

"No," Eden sighed. "What _moves_ do you know?"

As I approached the two with Pachirisu inside my uniform, Vee broke away from Eden and sped toward me, jumping and hitting its head against my chest.

Although it was all in good fun, my bruise began to ache as I took a hold of my chest and Vee ran in circles around my feet.

Eden sighed as she made her way toward me. "Vee won't show me any of the moves she has."

The pain only allowed me to speak through gritted teeth. "I think that one was a tackle."

Her eyes wandered down to my hand, where I was holding my chest.

"Are you okay?!" She rushed toward me and I nodded, turning away awkwardly. "I'll be _fine_, Eden. It wouldn't have hurt if the bruise wasn't there… it'll go back to normal."

My partner's eyes widened and wandered toward Vee, who was still running around my feet.

"You're going to get cold if you keep running around," she whispered as she picked Vee up and perched her on her shoulder.

The small Pokémon looked as though she lost her balance and I lunged for her, but she caught herself at the last moment.

I sighed a sigh of relief as a voice boomed behind us.

"Rangers! Are you ready to research?"

I turned to see Murph's dad walking toward us. "Hey, Murph's dad, yeah, sure. Let's go, Eden."

Eden nodded and followed me toward him, but Murph's dad just smiled. "Oh… you can just call me Pamur."

**Eden's POV**

I followed Kellyn and Pamur out of the camp and everything got misty-like.

The oncoming storm worried me a little… what if I got lost?

"_I AM known for getting lost…"_

"Eden," Kellyn's stern voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Stick close."

His matter-of-fact tone made my ears burn with anger. He spoke to me as if I was some… first-time Area Ranger!

I decided to pay it no mind as I concentrated on walking ahead.

Soon, we reached a bunch of guys dressed like scientists surveying the area as Pamur stopped and addressed the two of us.

"Now, you two are allowed to walk around and research whatever you want. Take notes on these," He pulled out two clipboards and a pen for each of us. "And we'll all report back when the blizzard hits. Alright?"

Kellyn and I nodded as I turned to Vee. "Let's go!"

Without even thinking about it, my love for research consumed me, I hadn't even bothered to wait for my partner as I sped off.

I kept running until I had to stop and catch my breath.

As I did so, Vee let out a surprised squeal.

"Vee? What is it?" I raced ahead and saw a strange Pokémon floating around.

"_Froslass?"_

The Froslass glared at me and I felt my body hit the snowy ground and the clipboard slip out of my hand.

My vision started to fade as I felt a cold hand grab my wrist and whisper something to me;

"I'll finally get my revenge on that noob."

* * *

Oh yeah? Guess who it is ._." First off, I was totally at a dead end on this chapter so I'm sorry it's been a month into summer and I haven't updated.

Next, I love Eden's partner Pokémon. Eevee and all of its evolutions are amongst my favorite Pokémon. Now, which one to evolve it into…

Last but not least, I read some of these ego-boosting reviews and I just _had_ to finish this chapter _today!_ So thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far :3

ARRF~ :3


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